cab - Taxi ridership sinking

女司机

Driven round the bend by cabby with poor English

November 9, 2009 Monday

Driven round the bend by cabby with poor English

LAST Thursday at about 9pm, my husband, who is from England, hailed a cab from our home in Segar Road, off Bukit Panjang Ring Road, to pick me up from the renal centre near Chinese Gardens.

He told the driver in clear English to take him to Chinese Gardens and the cabby said 'Chinee Gardens'. My husband corrected him umpteen times but the cabby kept repeating 'Chinee Gardens'. When the route he took was not familiar, my husband told him he had taken the wrong way, but the cabby insisted he was right.

They ended up at Changi Gardens. My husband was frustrated and upset, paid the cabby his fare and took another cab home as he could not reach the renal centre in time. Needless to say, our night did not end well.

Singapore has emphasised the need for workers to speak Mandarin so they can communicate with Mandarin-speaking clients. How about training people to speak clear and precise English so they can communicate with English-speaking clients, who make up the majority?

This is not our only experience with non-English-speaking people in the service industry. A female server at Haagen-Dazs in Holland Village once asked us to speak Mandarin. I have no problems if people want to speak Mandarin, but please do not behave as if other languages do not matter.

Rohaya Hamid-Douglas (Mrs)

Of job offers and cabbies

How to prevent a 'gutter' taxi service

Henry Lim
Updated 11:42 PM November 11, 2009
Taxi-drivers are self-employed, not salary-paid staff by any employer and therefore, they don't owe any commuter a living. If talking about commuter's rights, taxi-drivers also have their own rights as a self-boss, self-employed person. They can choose commuters and reject those who they think are suspicious and may rob them. Or reject those which are not along the same way as they are changing shifts or going home, so as to cut time loss and petrol cost. Blame the system of taxi-operators who does not want to hire drivers as salary staff. And pass the bulk of cost to the taxi-driver who in return, has the right to choose and pick commuters who directly affect their cost computation. By the way, I am not a taxi-driver.

wilson lim
Updated 11:01 AM November 11, 2009
woohoo~! it's time to kick some a-s-s! errant taxi drivers, beware! you WILL be reported, and your taxi driving licence "gan-dung", if you still continue to act "yaya papaya", or the next time, you refuse a customer for no valid reason. read between the lines of my three fingers! neh! :p we only want to keep good taxi drivers, not bad ones.

Cab - Accident

Can cabbies refuse customers

Ah Koon

Updated 05:45 PM November 10, 2009

If taxis queue at a taxi stand, it is also a clear indication the drivers are waiting for a fare. Don't argue with picky drivers. Just note down the details like date, location, taxi license no, time etc, and send these to LTA/Taxi Co.

Ah Koon

Updated 05:40 PM November 10, 2009

The moment a taxi which you have flagged down stops, open the rear door, and get in. Thereafter, you tell him where your destination is. If a taxi driver is on its way to a phone booking, is changing shift or is going for a break ( meals/toilet etc) he would normally just whiz you by. The fact that he stops is incontrovertible proof he wants a fare. I always got into the taxi first, and then told him my destination. That way, he could not justify not taking me to my destination. Hope this helps. Alternately, video the entire episode and send the details of the driver, with the clip to LTA/Taxi Co for further action.