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One luckless morning… as if waking up late for early shift isn’t bad enough… I had to take the cab to work to try and reach, well, not so late. Immediately after coming out of the shower, I started dialling for a cab as I wanted to escape the 7am peak hour call booking surcharges, and I thought I was fortunate I got a booking confirmation at 0657hrs. “Your booking is two dollars and fifty cents. Taxi number xxxx will arrive in 5 to 7 minutes. Please proceed to your pickup location and have a present journey.” |
 Click here for the origin of the ‘No Comfort Here’ Campaign |
Yes! That would save me $1.50. And this is where my nightmare begins.
By 0710 hours, there was no cab. So I had to call again to try and find out what happened to my cab. It took a minute or two before a sorry sounding operator came back to me and say, “Sorry sir, you cab is very far away. Can I get you another one?”
Just what the hell can I do? Of course get me another one, I thought. And yet another minute later, another cab was confirmed, this one coming yet another 5 – 7 minutes later. Time now: 0715hrs.
By the time the cab arrived, it was 0721 hrs, a small jam has started building up along the usual thoroughfare I take to join the AYE, and the morning rush hour jam has already begun along the AYE near the Clementi Road entrance all the way back to Clementi Ave 6.
Duration of trip: 27 mins. Arrival in office 0755hrs. Cost: $20.60 (incl. $4 call charges, + $2 peak hour surcharge.)
If the first cab come as it should: Travel time: 20 mins. Arrival in office 0730 hrs. Cost: $18.50
Estimated time I would have arrived at work had I took the MRT? 07:45 hrs. Cost? I think around $1.30.
No comfort indeed!!