Time has come for us to make a real effort to boycott taking taxi and if possible stop taking taxi and converserly take public buses and then walk and this is what I have been doing. The Global Financial Crisis is very real and has hit Singapore very badly and let us do our best to save money as much as possible and survive this crisis.

Regards
Andrew Chuah

http://singaporecabbies.blogspot.com/search/label/suddendeath

I drive for 12 hours a day, taking one hour break. Provided that I do not have to cruise empty for more than 30 minus or queue at the taxi-stand (not possible at current situation)

The most I can make is $100 net after rental and diesel cost. That worked out to be less than $10 per hour.

At the end of the day, I sleep like a dead dog.

One word .

Greedy !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Single objective – Take as much as possible from the people and blame external factors beyond their control

This is large companies in Singapore works

How can any company increase overall service quality (high-cost) and still at the same time, keep prices low enough for the masses and maintain ever higher dividend returns to investors?

Somethings just got to give. Make a guess which one.

13) I can’t believe that taxi drivers can earn more than $4,000 a month like what the MSM said. Nothing like feel good news.

16) Agree that yellow tops should be back into the picture. They can undercut and drive prices down, giving the big companies competition and us, choice.

18) Yes, agree that taxis should be a high end product as they are private chauffeurs. Passengers should expect to pay more. How much more is debatable.

22) Finally someone points out the Emperor’s New Clothes and that Sze Hian’s commentary is actually shallow.

Now, some of these poor employee who get that 30% paycut had just received a total of 25% raise over the last 5 years with 5% increment each year. With the 30% cut now, their pay are lower than what they received back 5 years ago.

Now, is that a “fair” game when the public transport fare has been increasing over the last 5 years and it has yet to get a substantial cut to bring it back to fare rate 5 years ago.

Correct me if I am wrong about this unfair pay-cut not not fare cut pain here.

“In this connection, I would also like to suggest that the Land Transport Authority (LTA) re-consider its 10-year ban on granting taxi licenses to ex-offenders, which I estimate to be about 200,000 people.”
- Cab drivers already fighting for a smaller pool of passengers in the recession and you want to add in more cabs?

Whatever. The fact is that now is the recession, people are cutting back on taxis. Can increase the profit margin of taxi drivers all we want but people still won’t take taxis now unless they think they can afford it.

Anyway, reduce ERP for cabs? I thought passengers pay, not the cab drivers? SMRT cabs are that way for one.

Reduce COE for cabs? The rental company pays right, not the cab driver unless he owns the cab?

Reduce diesel tax for cabs? Diesel already cheaper than petrol. If there is any reduce diesel tax specifically, it should be private and school bus operators. They carry more people than cabs.

Why this bleeding heart case for cab drivers per se? Everybody is hit in this recession, not only cab drivers. The subsidies etc should be for people to use public transport e.g. citizens to get ez-link top-up etc.

Good observation, Citizen. Yes, I agree, high taxi fares in Singapore is the result of greed of taxi operators for high profits, with cooperation of our govt, the prime example for greed in Singapore.

I agree with all these cuts, only if the number of taxis on the roads are contained. And it should be expensive high end product. (with subsidies for handicapped)And yes, there should not be dead weight where taxi operators are pimping themselves off these taxi drivers.

What you see with your own eyes, what you’ve heard from a taxi driver friend or two and what you had garnered from media reports will only give you half the real picture of the state of affairs in the Taxi Industry.

The other half will have to come from the taxi drivers themselves, not all, just a couple of hundred randomly picked active full timers, Christopher Tan of ST and hopefully whistle blowers from LTA, taxi companies in that order.

Then you will get the full picture!

And as for the given figures of income. It’s always in a form that is meant to mislead and when questioned denied as being quoted out of context. I don’t remember any instance of official figures being question and request asked for a detail ed breakdown.

Just take note of this. A newly minted driver will always take to the job with the enthusiasm of adventure and aspirations. He will believe that he can prove to be different and could do better than the drivers before him.

He is like a new fully charged battery. But like all batteries, eventually it will not able to hold it’s charge as long and also it will take a longer time to recharge and it will never be able to reach it’s original amperage of charge . Those more technically inclined will understand my analogy.

So to gauge a driver’s income, new drivers should not be part of a survey if you ever intend to conduct one..

I think they were wrong to stop giving taxi licences to individuals.we should have more yellow top taxis like last time.

a first world public transport yeah

In light of the spate of inaccurate media reports in the past few weeks, I think we need to approach MSM with a drum of salt till we get hypertension…

On a side note (which is totally irrelevant to the article)… as nations press on to cut pollution and carbon emmisions (im not sure what sg’s stand on this is though) cabbies may (or may not) suffer again in the near future until a cleaner and more economical technology and/or fuel source is developed… and so will private cars…