10/14/2007

Taxi drivers touting!

What a shameless thing to do. Taxi drivers are touting and cheating foreigners by charging them high fares and not using the meters. Wow, Singaporeans turning into another kind of robbing. Why is it that taxi drivers are not allowed to rob their passengers? They are just doing it to earn a living to feed their families in the face of ever rising cost of living. What is wrong with taxi drivers trying to earn a bit more? When other people are earning by the millions, why can't taxi drivers aspire to earn half a million? Oh, maybe they don't have a piece of paper with a first class honours chopped on it. So they are undeserving to earn a million dollar. Oops, I mean a measly half a peanut. Are people envious of these low down poorly educated people who can earn a million or trying to earn half a million? Actually the taxi drivers are not robbing. They are entrepreneurs offering their services to a select group of customers. They are willing to provide a higher level of personalised service to these customers, like the high net worth clients of banks, premier banking, no need to queue and service with a specially created smile. Hey, it is willing buyer willing seller. If the foreigners did not want to take their cabs at their asking price, so be it. They did not put a knife at their throat to force them to take their cabs. It is not compulsory huh. No coercion. And they are talking of a pathetic $20 ride. In New York, London or Tokyo, they can easily charge $100 plus tips! Now compare this with the $30k compulsory savings in the Medisave, the $99,600 compulsory savings in the Minimum Sum, the akan datang compulsory annuities which is going to be another few thousands? Come on, give the poor taxi drivers a break. Let them make a few dollars more to have a bottle of stout or a pack of cigarettes after a day of backbreaking work. Free the market and let them charge their own prices. Service with a difference must come with a price. It raises the standard and quality of service. They may earn enough to have the luxury to go for personal grooming courses to serve their customers better. Dress better and smell better. This is just another way of looking at the issue. Or shall we accept the guiding principle that low down people must not be allowed to earn more money than the super talents? Only super talents can charge and demand whatever they want and low down workers must accept whatever that is being decided for them?

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Redbean, if you allow this touting for passengers by these taxi drivers, where will it end? We would have to allow street peddlers, tissue sellers, little children peddling homemade artifacts in Orchard Road.......etc etc.

In Singapore, rules are rules. There can be no bending of rules. We do not want chaos and disobedience from the sheeples.

Chua Chin Leng aka redbean said...

we should not kill the entrepreneurial spirit of the taxi touts. they are providing a platinum card level of service.

further more, what if our taxi drivers all got lure away to drive taxis in New York or London? they will wise up one day, commission a survey on their income competitiveness. and if they decide to become fts then will will lose all our talented taxi drivers and only the ah peks will be left behind to drive taxis.

the standard and quality of taxi services will go down.

Anonymous said...

I agree with you redbean. All people should be allowed to tout.

Ministers should be allowed to tout to the Singaporean people on why they should get an extra million or so.

It's better that Singaporeans learn to tout again, so they are sharper at business, and they understand value.

The problem in Orchard road is that foreigners, Malaysian beggars are filling the streets touting.

Unproductive Singaporeans on the other hand are kept in dark dormitories in a secluded place and left to die.

Which one do you prefer?

Chua Chin Leng aka redbean said...

singaporeans are now competing at the international level. busking, begging, pirate vcds, loansharks and touting are now left for the fts to fight.

we are in the big league, only thinking in the millions.

Anonymous said...

Yes it a way to demand more money when our leaders are demanded too, so it can't stop to be green for more money to sustain this ever non-stop cost of living rising, unless our leader show good example or at least bring down the cost of living.

Just look at foreigners the indian (more demanding,greedy and bossy) ,china Chinese, phipinos, malaysian or others are even more greedy than local as they are more demanding in term of good packages, you can observe yourself at your foreigner colleagues.

Therefore it nothing wrong so long we don't rob from other like malaysia motorist robbers cross border here to rob. It just the surival in this presant realistic stressful materialistic live here and we live with no choice just has to learn to be adaptable in this cruel soviety.

Ⓜatilah $ingapura⚠️ said...

There is nothing "wrong" with touting—it is a market phenomena.

People do what they do out of self-interest—i.e. Individuals, with their individual brains, will respond to incentives, to satisfy their own interests.

Taxi drivers tout because they don't make "enough" just being a fare-charging cab driver. Their expenses (fuel) is up, they are taxed, there is huge amount of cabs on the road as it is the govt which determines (as opposed to The Free market) how many cabs are required, and how much they should charge.

> Taxi drivers are touting and cheating foreigners by charging them high fares and not using the meters. <

No , you are patently WRONG it is not "cheating". With every market transaction there is a principle called caveat emptor — i.e. "you can't cheat an honest man".

I am waiting for the day a cab driver tries to get a fare from me without turning on the meter.

I will say "Meter show nothing, so you get nothing, goodbye, have a nice day".

He is a fool to "try something funny" because I sit at the back and have a tactical advantage if it came down to physical violence. i.e. he has to turn his body at an awkward angle to strike me. I on the other hand, have a clear passage to the back of his skull.

Chua Chin Leng aka redbean said...

i did mention cheating in the first instance. but i did mentioned that it is another viewpoint. and another viewpoint is to look at it as a differentiation in the quality of service. you want instant cab, you pay more.