Commuters beat tourists as Singapore Ducktours pushed off the river by a price cap
Skift Take
Ducktours' dilemma demonstrates the constant tug and pull between tourists and local commuters. Of course the tourist boats would like to charge S$18, but the S$3 commuter vessels will attract enough visitors to chip away at the tourist business.
After operating cruises along the Singapore River for the past four-and-a-half years, Singapore Ducktours will be stopping its HiPPO River Cruises in the area - not before crying foul over the Urban Redevelopment Authority's (URA) tender exercise after it did not win the bid to run water taxi services.
Among other things, it took issue with the emphasis on bid price instead of the bidder's track record and argued that the requirements - including the S$3 price cap on the standard service.
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