taxis

4.42pm


this morning around 7am it started to pour so heavily and I had to ring the taxi company to book a cab for my husband. after being put on hold and listening to an automated voice for about 7 minutes, a guy came on the line. I told him that I wanted to book a cab for 8.15am and he took down my home address etc and told me that they will call me back. so around 8am my husband decided to ring them up again because there weren't any sign/calls from the cab company. he was put on hold and then managed to speak to the customer service which also told him the same thing. to wait for a reply.

10 minutes later, my husband just could not wait any longer(he had a meeting to rush to) and was getting pretty fed up. at least, you know the cab company should ring us back(since they have our details, when we made those earlier calls to them) and inform us that there wasn't any cab available due to the heavy rain or for whatever reason. we did give them ample time to scout around for a cab.

long story short, my husband ended up taking public transport to work and I rung the same taxi company to cancel the booking. somehow I think these taxi companies have a lot to improve on. Singapore is such a small country and its just amazing that there are not enough cabs to go around the island. it seemed as though they have crawled into some cave and hid there, afraid to come out!

you know, when you want a taxi, there wont be any available around but when you don't want, you see a lot on the road. here in Singapore(for those foreigners reading my blog), all the taxis(from different companies) will have the standard sign flashing on top of their car, bit like the police. it will flash the words like busy, on call, (those are in red color) and if its available, they will either put the destination that these cab drivers are heading to, (probably change shift or whatever) or you will see the taxi company's phone number, all in green color. this is to let the people flagging down these taxis( or if you are at a taxi stand), so that you can see what's going on, basically.

for those of you who are reading this and live here, have you ever encountered these problems before or any other problems for that matter?  there are times when we have rung and booked a cab(but yet to get a reply from them on whether they will be sending a cab or not) and we happen to see an available cab and we hop on, we have to call back the cab company to cancel our booking. why cant they just tell us "ok we will call you back in 5 mins, max 10 to inform you if your booking was successful or not" so at least we don't have to sit around and wait for their reply, not knowing if its a yes or no. very annoying if you asked me. some people could be having an emergency or late for the airport or meeting etc but these taxi companies don't care do they?

you know, they really ought to do something about this and improvise. sometimes they can be smart but at times, kinda stupid if you asked me. its like taking 2 steps forward and 1 step back. ssheesh

another annoying thing that i wanna highlight is that OMG, some of the drivers are really bad. when i say bad i mean they dont know how to drive properly. you know how they drive? let me tell you. they would accelerate then release the accelerator, accelerate and release the accelerator on and on like that until you reach your destination...OMFG!! or they would break and accelerate, break and accelerate...many times, my mom in law,  he maid and myself would get blue in the face or feel like throwing up when this happens!! Im ok if they drive slowly but this is too much. and when that happens, I would look out the window and count the "hours" until I reach my destination. hoping that I don't embarrass myself by suddenly throwing up in the cab! oh the fear of it all!!

and all thanks to who? thanks to these lousy cab drivers(which unfortunately are the elderly uncles, more often than not). I know they want to earn a living but seriously, they should stay off the road. and mind you there were many times, I wanted to just tap on the shoulder of these "uncles" to tell them that I will take over the driving because its just that bad. I would beg!! believe you me, but so far touch wood, I've not come to that stage YET, I hope it wont!

aaah, one thing good that I can say about Singapore cabs is that they don't cheat you. it all goes by meter. and you can pay via nets card, ezlink(I think), credit card or cash. so you have options. and you can ask for your receipt if you like.

but unlike in my home country, not all taxis there go by meter. they will give you a price, you take it or leave it although sometimes you can negotiate the fare, depending on the distance. what the hell right!! and I heard that there are lots of cases whereby foreigners and tourists would get conned/cheated by these taxi drivers. really disgusting. I bet you that these drivers have been trained by the ministry of transport. any tom,dick and harry can be drivers. and by the way, you gotta pay by cash only. the taxis are pretty small compared to Singapore taxis which has more legroom and space. im not sure however, if things have changed for the better, although i would like to think so.

you know, once as i was queuing up for a taxi at the airport back in my hometown, there were 4 big and tall caucasion guys in front of me, hopping into one of these small taxis!! omg!! I was giggling to myself from what I saw. the 4 of them could barely breathe in the cab!! and as the cab sped off, I could see that the poor taxi was trying hard to withstand the weight of 4 heavy guys! hahahaha... hey these guys were also carrying their huge knapsacks ok!! so you can just imagine. too funny.

alas i know that in the end we are at the mercy of these cab companies, especially if you don't own a car. but you don't really need a car here(and cost of one is bloody high!) because the public transport system is pretty damn good compared to my country's. i seriously think they ought to learn the good stuff like this for example, from Singapore but i guess they are too proud, arrogant and stubborn to do so.

well nothing i can do about it. im a nobody. even if i voice out, so what? one voice, who cares, right?! ok, that's it then, people! take care and check in with you guys another day! until then,


ttfn


5.44pm