Why Do Yellow-Top Taxis Still Exist in Singapore?

Added: 2026-05-12

[00:00:00]Do you know that there are STILL yellow-top taxis in Singapore?

[00:00:02]Watch on because you’d likely still see them for years!

[00:00:05]So, so, So TheY SurViVed LonGer ThAn SomE Taxi & PH companiEs~ In case you’re calling me fake news because you’ve not seen them before, here are the official numbers.

[00:00:15]According to LTA statistics, quoted by The Straits Times, back in January 2017, there were 114 yellow-top taxis still on the road.

[00:00:22]By 2023, there were only 32 of them, so seeing them was then as rare as seeing an influencer not posting her Bali trip.

[00:00:28]And as of January 2026, only 5 yellow-top taxis are still on the road, out of more than 12,000 taxis in Singapore, so if you do see them, do note down the number and buy 4D.

[00:00:37]And these are the OG taxi uncles, because LTA says the average age of the remaining five drivers is 72 years old.

[00:00:43]So, what is a yellow-top taxi in Singapore?

[00:00:50]Well, other than its iconic look of a yellow roof and a black body, it is very, very different from the usual taxis you see on the road.

[00:00:56]The real difference is that the driver actually OWNS the taxi.

[00:00:59]Most taxi drivers in Singapore today rent their vehicles from companies like ComfortDelGro, Trans-Cab, Strides Premier, and so on.

[00:01:05]But yellow-top taxis paid for their own car, their own COE, their own road tax, their own insurance, their own maintenance; basically, instead of renting a taxi, they own the taxi instead.

[00:01:14]Duck, it’s kind of like private-hire cars, whereby some private hire drivers own their own cars.

[00:01:18]But unlike private hire car owners who can keep their cars for ten years before the COE expires, yellow-top drivers used to need to replace their vehicles every eight years.

[00:01:26]So, owning one is not exactly cheap, since you're constantly dipping into your savings to buy a new vehicle.

[00:01:30]But is that why are there so few of them now?

[00:01:32]Well, no: It’s due to another reason.

[00:01:47]Yellow-tops were first introduced way back in 1933 by Wearne Brothers, the same company that today is Wearnes Automotive, the distributor and retailer of luxury cars like Volvo, in Singapore.

[00:01:56]You see, yellow-tops appeared after the government cracked down on something called "mosquito buses".

[00:02:01]No lah, mosquito buses are not buses come every five years lah HEHEHE IF YOU GET IT YOU GET IT~ Back in the past, mosquito buses were these small, privately-run buses that zipped around neighbourhoods on informal routes.

[00:02:11]Once those got banned, demand for public transport shot up, and Wearne Brothers stepped in with the yellow-top taxis.

[00:02:17]But how did we go from "everywhere" to "almost extinct"?

[00:02:19]In the 1960s, yellow-top taxis were synonymous with taxis.

[00:02:22]The Straits Times reported that there were about 3,800 of them on the road at their peak, which was considered a lot back in those days.

[00:02:28]But there was a big problem: pirate taxis.

[00:02:30]These were unlicensed drivers using their own private cars to ferry passengers at random made-up rates.

[00:02:35]At one point in the mid-60s, there were as many as 4,000 pirate taxis running daily, according to heritage blog Remember Singapore.

[00:02:40]To fix this whole mess, in 1970, the NTUC set up the Workers' Co-operative Commonwealth for Transport, which would eventually become NTUC-Comfort, and then today's ComfortDelGro.

[00:02:49]In fact, some of us might have seen this taxi before.

[00:02:51]They started operations in 1971 with 1,000 taxis, and many former pirate taxi drivers got absorbed into the cooperative.

[00:02:57]The government also slapped a 100% diesel tax hike on private diesel vehicles, which basically forced pirate drivers to either join the cooperative or quit.

[00:03:05]Pirate taxis were officially phased out by July 1971.

[00:03:07]But here's the part that sealed the yellow-top taxis' fate.

[00:03:10]In the 1970s, the government changed the policy: new taxi licences would only be issued to companies, not individuals.

[00:03:15]And from 1974, existing yellow-top licences were also made non-transferable, and they get cancelled once the driver hits age 75.

[00:03:22]This is also why the fleet model took over.

[00:03:24]These companies hold what's called a Street-hail Service Operator Licence, and drivers can simply just rent the taxis from them.

[00:03:29]It's much more convenient for the drivers, since they can just rent and drive but of course, you give up the freedom and the ownership.

[00:03:39]According to The Straits Times, the last yellow-top taxi is expected to disappear from our roads by around 2030, when the youngest driver hits the retirement age of 75.

[00:03:47]So, this means soon, we will no longer see the iconic yellow-top taxis.

[00:03:50]After all, all good things come to an end, like your HDB flat: Have you ever wondered what happens to your HDB flats after 99 years?

[00:03:56]Watch this and be surprised, because you won’t need to wait for 99 years!

[00:03:59]Also, if you want to advertise with us, even as a stand-alone video, do contact us.

[00:04:03]Our website is in the description, or you can scan this QR code.

[00:04:06]Thank you for spending almost four minutes with me.

[00:04:07]I really appreciate it, and hope you learn something.