Filed under: Political & Social — by rojakgeekiness @ 6:14 pm
Tags: CBD, government, Singapore, taxis
Imagine that you are stepping out of the building in which you had
just finished an important meeting where you wore your very best. And
to your dismay, it was raining cats and dogs outside and you have no
choice but to wave a taxi and go to whatever your next location is..
Well, if it was in Singapore, i would say that is a deluded thought,
thanks to a new ruling made
Yes, i am talking about the new rule about taxis not being able to
stop anywhere they want in the CBD area except in taxi stands from
7am-10 pm, Mondays to Saturdays. So now, instead of being able to take
a taxi anywhere ( which i think is pretty much the advantage of
boarding a taxi), you would have to go to the nearest taxi stand (
which could be at the doorstep if you are lucky or around 100m away if
you are really unlucky). And get drenched in the process. People can
also amuse themselves at people having to run or walk fast to the
nearest taxi stand with the taxi trailing behind them before being
able to board the cab which they flagged just now. ( i swear this is
true also)
However the worst people who are affected are not the people who have
to wet their Arman or Gucci suits in the rain if they dun carry an
umbrella. No. The people that is most affected are the tourist and the
physically challenged person.
When i was boarding a taxi last saturday, the driver told me of how
people who stayed those hotels which have no taxi stands ( usually
those medium sized hotel) would have to stop at the nearest taxi stand
and then call the hotel personnel to carry their heavy luggage from
the taxi stand to the hotel. Now, i would say these people were
fortunate. Why do i say that? Well, to be frank, they could have only
called the personnel with the taxi's driver phone and how many drivers
are there who is so kind? And what if the hotel personnel refuse to
carry the luggage from the taxi stands? In that case, the tourist
would have to find their way through a foreign land, carrying heavy
luggage, and let me assure you that it is not a wonderful experience
to have. Moreover, SIngapore has waned to attract more tourist and it
is possible that with the 2010 Youth Olympics that tourist would be
swarming from all over the world. Is this how they want the first
impression of Singapore to be?
And for the physically challenged people, what can i say? Very often,
the reason for taking a taxi for them would be to cut down on the
distance to be travelled. Moreover at the CBD area, i would say that
the crowd isn't exactly very civilised and thus making movement even
worse that in the suburbs of Singapore. So imagine having to travel a
distance using a crutch or a wheelchair. This, i assure you, is not a
good experience to have as well.
I know that the government had implemented this rule to ease the
traffic for buses especially in situations where the bus lane is
occupied by taxis alighting or boarding customers. But i feel that it
is just a stopgap measure from the government. Firstly, it is not
tourist and physically disabled friendly. Also, it does not stop the
root of the problem at all. This measure is akin to just damming the
river without letting the water flow. This would only cause the
problem to get bigger and bigger and only cause th dam to burst one
day. WHy not just ease the problem one by one? AT least, that would
lessen the problem and not cause another problem on its own.
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