Private hire driver who charged S$65 fare at HarbourFront stand slapped with $650 fine for touting

SINGAPORE: A judge found a private-hire vehicle driver guilty of loitering to solicit passengers at the HarbourFront Centre taxi point and gave him a fine of S$650.

On Mar 31, 2024, Steven Gan Teck Guan, the PHV driver, spoke with a man named Ranjit Singh while Mr Ranjit was in the taxi stand queue at the venue. Gan offered him a ride for S$65, after which Mr Ranjit asked if he was touting. 

He later submitted feedback regarding the encounter with Gan to the Land Transport Authority (LTA), along with pictures of Gan’s vehicle, after which Gan was charged.

The PHV driver initially contested the charge. However, he went so far as to accuse the LTA of making up a story against him and conspiring with Mr Ranjit.

Under Singaporean law, a person licensed to drive a specified vehicle is not allowed to loiter for the purpose of soliciting passengers.

The backstory

CCTV footage from the HarbourFront Centre Taxi Point from March 31, 2024, showed that for over half an hour, Gan had repeatedly walked around the taxi bay area, near the people waiting in the taxi queue and the adjacent area, and around his vehicle, which was parked at the taxi bay.

He did this despite not having any bookings assigned by the ride-hail operators to pick up any passengers between 5:00 and 6:30 pm.

According to the ruling from District Judge Koh Jiaying, published on Aug 26, 2026, Mr Ranjit, who had just returned from Batam at the time of the incident, testified that Gan had been getting the attention of the people lined up at the taxi stand by pointing out how long the queue was. The PHV driver had also pointed to his vehicle, saying that it was the one with the open trunk.

Upon Mr Ranjit’s request, Gan proceeded to provide a fare price based on the premium price listed in the Grab app, which, according to Mr Ranjit’s app, was S$65.

Mr Ranjit then asked the PHV driver if he was touting, which caused Gan to get defensive and begin to challenge him. Gan also told him that he studied law, though he was unable later on to present certificates that would prove this to be true.

When Mr Ranjit submitted feedback to LTA, he wrote that he hoped the authority would “take action against such drivers who hustle(s) tourist(s).”

The judge wrote that he found Mr Ranjit’s testimony to be credible.

Gan, who had been unrepresented by a lawyer, denied that he had been soliciting passengers, further claiming that he had to walk around instead of sitting in his vehicle because he was suffering from gout, diabetes, and arthritis.

He also said that Mr Ranjit approached him first and made him an offer for a ride and that he was waiting for customers from Indonesia who had booked with him privately. However, the judge did not accept these statements as credible.

Judge Koh also rejected Gan’s claims that the LTA had fabricated the charge against the PHV driver and conspired with Mr Ranjit to implicate him.

Gan is currently out on bail pending appeal. If he is unable to pay the S$650, he will need to serve a two-day jail sentence. /TISG

Read also: “Is there really nothing we can do about it?” Man says touting in public is getting out of hand