ST Forum Nov 29, 2007
I REFER to the letter, 'Difficulty making ends meet? Taxi drivers can afford not to pick up fares during peak hours' (ST Online Forum, Nov 26).
I agree with letter writer Daniel Suen's comments. As a commuter who regularly hails a cab, I have had many bad experiences.
Recently, I was waiting for a taxi at Sengkang Rivervale Mall around 9am with 10 people in the queue. I saw many in the queue desperately calling the busy hotline for booking a cab. At the same time, I saw taxis without 'on call' or 'hired' signs driving past, ignoring the long queue.
At 10am, there were still eight of us waiting in the queue after two 'on call' cabs picked up passengers.
I encountered the same problem at Suntec City taxi stand too. After waiting for an hour behind a long queue and trying in vain to call for a cab at 11.30pm, I had to call my friend to pick me up at 1am. The number of waiting passengers in front was unchanged when my friend arrived.
A friend of mine from Hong Kong, who happened to take his wife to try the local food in the East Coast Food Centre, had to call me in the middle of the night for help. They had been waiting in the long queue for more than an hour near the food centre taxi stand and trying to call a cab to return to their hotel. I had to call a friend to take them to their hotel. I felt ashamed.
Many of the taxi drivers I spoke to seemed to know the problems when I told them about my bad experiences. A few of the honest drivers said they preferred to pick up customers in the town area as it was fast money, together with the peak-hour surcharge. They always earned double, yet the distance was shorter.
And what do taxi drivers do on rainy days or during peak hour? They prefer to wait for calls while having a hot coffee as the weather is cold and the traffic is bad.
Despite the increase in the number of taxi operators and cabs on the road, commuters wait in vain in long queues to get a cab.
This problem will remain unsolved so long as the attitude of taxi drivers remains unchanged.
Ng Yih Houy (Ms)
Thursday 29 November 2007
Taxi drivers need to change their attitude
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1 comment:
(#3) singaporeboleh
November 26, 2007 Monday, 12:18 PM
wongpohchong :
It for the comfort of the passengers ...
cabbies left the engines on so that to keep the taxi cool under the hot sun. otherwise the next passenger will complain and then they have to waste time to go to LTA to "drink coffee".
Leave engine on while pumping petrol, if you see this action, please go up to them and tell them to switch off the engine, don't wait for LTA.
(#4) sonickid
November 26, 2007 Monday, 01:01 PM
My brother in law was a part-time taxi driver and now drives full-time after his retirement from his security job. All these while he never complains of not getting enough to live from driving a taxi. It boils down to hard work like any other vocations. According to him the only time he was hard hit as a taxi driver was during the SAR period when people stayed away from taxis for fear of catching the virus inside the vehicles. This shows that there's always money to be earned from driving a taxi if you are willing to work hard. I'm sure there are many other taxi drivers in this country who like my brother-in law are hardworking and honest in carrying out their job. As for the few errant ones who made the headlines recently, why would they still want to drive taxis if they can't make ends meet? No one force you to become a taxi driver only for you to tarnish it in jeopardy to the more than 20,000 people who make it their vocation.
(#5) steamroller
November 26, 2007 Monday, 01:07 PM
Let me share the story with you in the 50s and 60s.
Some taxi drivers had two wives. I know of two such drivers. They had a whale of a time then. Has the situation changed today?
Hard time is what you define and not what exactly happens.
Perhap some the taxi drivers of today still cling to the idea of maintaining the mentality of keeping two wives and project a picture of hardtime when it is not so.
(#6) markXandlovingit
November 27, 2007 Tuesday, 12:58 AM
Not just the taxi drivers are having a difficult time,almost every trade is having a difficult time. I'm in the retail trade, operating in the heartlands, the rents are up, the cost of products are up, electric bills are up, cannot sublet the front of the shops to defray the rents thus increasing overheads.
We do not complain that much, least the HDB will say, give up for the next guy to try. The country is doing very well now, but the little guys in the heartlands are not doing as well. Like all little bussiness guys out there most are NOT DOING WELL.....YET!!!!
(#7) NonaSings
Today, 08:22 AM
The best way is to set quota for the taxi drivers...that way they cannot wait to pick passengers up.
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