The Taxi Driver is one of the most protected profession in Singapore. And I am not saying this lightly. I am sure you would agree with some of the examples I am giving below as support to my statement.
- They complained it is ‘unreasonable’ to expect them to enter the CBD with an empty cab because of the ERP charges, and a CBD surcharge is argued as a form of incentive for them to ply the streets in the CBD.
- They complained it is not fair for them to pay ERP charges for commuter alighting at the IBM towers, and commuters end up paying even when they are alighting outside the CBD.
- They complained that the diesel costs is too high, a 30cents diesel surcharge is slapped on commuters!
- And this is the best part… when we complained that it is difficult for them to get a cab in CBD during peak hours, a peak hour surcharge of 30% is slapped on the commuters – victims of cabbies who refused to pick up street hires – so cabbies can be enticed to enter the CBD.
- When we complained that even calling a cab is difficult as a result of the above, call charges during peak hours are also increased! Just why are passengers made to pay for telling cabbies where to get business is beyond me!
It wouldn’t be so bad had any of these sweeteners translate into an improvement of the cab service for commuters. Yet, the problem commuters face remains the same, while these surcharges just continue to mount, and encourages cabbies to remain recalcitrant. How the LTA continue to justify maintaining this unwieldy system that punishes commuters is perhaps only understood by the high level car-driving civil servants serpents of the LTA in their air-conditioned offices – the modern day equivalent of an ivory tower.
It doesn’t freaking matter to taxi drivers that being self-employed, and thus ‘businessmen’ in their own right, these operating charges should part of the operational risks that they should bear, along with traffic fines, congestion and accidents! Frankly, who listens to the entrepreneur who complains about the rising electricity tariffs, or even SingTel raising the fixed line charges by $10? No one is going to give any of these guys a bail out, but here we have the taxi companies acting in concert to pass all of that costs downstream to you and me when it is no fault of our own. No wonder even other businesses now shamelessly pass all the costs to their customers – such as when there is a cost increase in sugar, rice or egg prices!
Thus, it is of no surprise that some cab drivers can afford to wander around the street and ignore passengers flagging frantically for a cab or ignore the long queues in taxi stands. It is also not a surprise to find some cabbies doing side trades as pimps. They can also afford to disappear from the streets until the fares are in their favor, or reject passengers citing a myriad of reasons ranging from having an advanced booking, servicing or changing shift! And if you know which coffee shop to look for them, you can at times listen in to their chats and hear them boast about their earnings. Yet at the meantime they play up to the media just how difficult it is for them to earn a living.
And if you are wondering just why they are so protected… the first reason is the well being of taxi companies are intertwined with the taxi drivers’. If taxi drivers quit, taxi companies will end up with a large fleet of cabs rusting away and they will have a tough time explaining the losses to shareholders. Thus, you will only see taxi companies help their drivers by collaborating to pass the cost to commuters, but never by cutting rental. But still, taxi companies is really not the main reason why taxi drivers are protected.
The most important reason is the taxi driver profession serves as the proverbial carpet where Singapore sweeps its unemployment problem under. A lot of folks in their mid- to late-thirties usually end up as taxi drivers during recessions. Taxi drivers are where a part of Singapore’s unemployment problem is hidden, along with homemakers and students. In short, as long as taxi drivers remained in their trade, they will not show up as unemployed!
I suspect that is the real reason why Singapore taxi drivers are always protected under a jumble of surcharges, giving the recalcitrant ones the loopholes to screw commuters several times over. Frankly, if the LTA is really into a people-centred land transport system, I reiterate again that the correct thing to do will be to raise flag-down charges for cabs substantially, and do away with the insane surcharges – except the airport and midnight charges, of course.
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