However, these may not be enough for some cabbies, who said driving a cab has become harder with new service standards stipulating that a taxi must clock at least 250km a day. "With Uber or Grab, you don't have to do this," said one. "You just wait for business to come to your phone."
With the roll-out of more bus lanes and illegal parking enforcement cameras, cabbies are also facing more fines now.
Trans-Cab cabby Francis Goh, 61, said: "Since taxis are a form of public transport, why not let us use the bus lanes as long as we don't stop?"
However, the single biggest factor behind the idle taxis is the higher rental rate. Daily rentals now range from around $130 for a regular cab to about $180 for a new Mercedes-Benz taxi - 50 per cent to 60 per cent higher than a decade ago.
The rental for an Uber car is as low as $60 a day.
An industry source said 30 per cent to 40 per cent of drivers who signed up with Uber and GrabCar fleets are former cabbies. There are an estimated 3,000 of such cars providing on-call taxi services.
Cabbies who have switched said attractions include having access to a car that does not have a taxi sign on its roof, and being able to fetch clients to Malaysia and back.
Mr Thomas Tan, 50, was among half a dozen cabbies who had given up their Comfort Mercedes cabs for Toyota Alphard MPVs.
"This is the new direction, and we're embracing it," he said.
His colleague Leslie Chang, 46, said: "This is like having our own car with a private number plate."
On average, Mr Chang said he does five to eight trips a day. "In a taxi, we had to do 20," he noted.
They pay less than $140 a day on rental, versus $178 for the Merc.
The LTA said 3.8 per cent of taxis - or more than 1,000 - were unhired as at June. Observers reckon the figure has climbed since.
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