Taxis can learn from Nanjing

Poolman SG

Monday - Straits times Forum

Article by Paul Chan Poh Hoi

he wonder why he need to call cabs and pay $3.50 when there are more than 40,000 taxis in our small city of 4 million .

Can S'pore take a leaf from Nanjinhg and do away with all the frills so commuters , taxis drivers and taxi company operators all benefit .

Poolman SG

An article from Monday's Straits Times Forum :

we couldn't access to St Forum to shoot him back , so let us answer his question here .

No.1 - Their day rental is 80 yuan rmb , convert to S$ = $S16 ? Our is S$46 , just half a shift . How to compare ?

N0.2 - How high their standard of living ?

No.3 - For a flag down of 2.40 yuan rmb , their people not many can afford , and most Nanjing people , their bike abd bicycle is their main transport , not a taxi . In Singapore , for S$2.40 , it's just another public transport , of course this Nanjing cabby has to rely on tourist to earn a living , of course if this Paul Chan can get a cab in peak hours . Very much unlikely in Singapore .

No.4 , how much does diesel price cost in Nanjing ? In Singapore , diesel can be as expensive as petrol .

No.5 , how much does a house cost in Nanjing ? Most HDB flat cost at least S$130.000 for 3-rm .

Can we really compare Nanjing and Sinapore , Mr Paul ?

Last thing , let's hope Singaporean and people like Paul Chan can stop treating Singapore cabbies like charity worker , we have also got a family to feed , HDB instalments to pay , bills to pay , handphones bills to pay , just like any other Singaporean .

And obviously Mr Paul haven't been to Japan when a trip from Tokyo Narita Airport to Tokyo City can cost him about S$240 . And why ? Do i need to answer that question ?

Poolman SG

Singapore 40,000 taxis ? Are u sure Mr Paul ?

dragg SG

too many or too few?

mochou SG

No1 You cant compare in relation with currency exchange rate. Their rental is low when you convert it to sg dollor and compare with sg rental. How about their earnings? you convert their earnings and convert it to sg dollor, then compare with sg drivers earnings.

No2 Same for No.1, thier cost of living low, same for their paid, it's low too.

No3 I dont know what you mean, you mean singaporeans can afford, so they have to pay extra for calling? or you mean sg taxis business very good, it's hard to flag a taxi in peak hours, which means they already got lot of customers, they dun need ppl to call, so those who call must pay extra? Nanjing taxis business is bad, they beg for customers, so customers dont have to pay?

No4 Same as No1. and No.2. Low petrol/diesel cost but also low earnings.

No5 I have to say again, you cant compare like this. If you want to compare, do this: Take the price of a normal 3rm flat in Singapore and divide it by the average monthly income of a normal worker in Singapore, so that you get the answer of how many months of income is needed to buy a flat. Then you do the same for Nanjing and see how many months of income is needed to buy a flat in Nanjing. Then you can compare, the city that needs more months of income to buy a flat is actually the one with more expensive housing.

I am sure we cant compare like the way you did.

tokyo has very high cost of living, so the transportation fees are very high too, it's nothing strange.

of cos being cab driver is not charity work, it's not the driver's fault. It's the company, is it reasonable to charge extra for calling?

The problem is who is the "begger", if you can easily flag a cab anywhere, who would bother to pay extra to call a cab? Such case the cab company is the "begger" begging for customer. If it's real hard to find a cab anytime anywhere, even extra $10 we still have to pay when we really need a cab. bcos customers are begging for a taxi.

So we really dun need to compare, it's only about the cab company, are they nice enough to give the free service? or they want to earn more cos they understand that singaporeans are begging for thier service.

In HK, thier are ppl who gather a big group of taxi drivers, then when someone call for cab thru the "boss"(the call is free except normal phone bill), they give a 20-30%discount on the meter(tolls no discount). This ensure them good business, better than roaming around without customers. When times are bad, they give all the offers.

Maybe one day when only few singaporeans want to take cab, all these offers will come too.

Volvo Olympian SG

This topic is like more on Business instead Rolling Eyes

Poolman SG

Precisely , This Mr Paul can't compare Nanjing's taxis against Sg taxis ......

Nanjing's driver doesn't have a high standard of living , they don't need booking system to survive . In Singapore , drivers drove without taking bookings , most suffers in income , it's not a secret .

If .... only if one day .... Comfort and the rest of the taxi companies , re-adjust the taxi rental to Nanjing's rate of S$16 , and the diesel prices at $0.45cents per litres , then we don't need bookings for extra money .

Singaporean will be a happy lot of commuters .

The caused of this is all due to the blood-sucking taxi company , if they can forgo booking revenues , and lucrative taxi rental revenue , then taxi drivers life will be much easier .

They jacked up the rental , and force cabbies to take bookings if cabbies want a higher pay .

Poolman SG

In Tokyo , the standard of living is high , no doubt , therefore , taxi fare is high , that apply also in Singapore .

You just can't expect to stay in a develope countries like Singapore , where the standard of living is as high as New York , and taking a cab where the fare in still base in the third world country , no way .

oxford mushroom SG

You have a point about the high rental fees charged by taxi companies but you cannot expect our cab drivers to charge as much as those in New York. By your reckoning, then doctors, plumbers, construction workers and maids will all demand to charge New York prices. Singapore will not be competitive.

Taxi companies must not be allowed to earn so much revenue. Taxis should be considered part of public transport...

On the other hand, I am aware that there are many bad hats among taxi drivers who would not drive if there is a football match on (cos' they gamble on them), would not go to certain areas, would not drive if it is raining etc..When customers cannot get a cab on a rainy day, they will demand for more taxis to be put on the roads, which the taxi companies are more than prepared to do.

Taxi drivers have themselves to blame for some of their problems..

madcampus SG

Sometimes when I drive around town during the evening, I pity those tourists flagging for cabs.

Poolman SG

This article :-

Taxis can learn from Nanjing

I Visited Nanjing last month for the first time. We spent four days there and stayed in a four-star hotel. We visited recommended places of interest, and no one would want to miss the Memorial Hall to the victims in the Nanking massacre.

Nanjing has a population of about five million. As senior citizens, we avoided public transport like underground trains or buses. Our only means of transport was by taxi.

I was surprised that this Third World city has a First World taxi service. We could get a taxi even at peak rush hour less than 10 minutes from our hotel. It was easier to get one on the road than in Singapore. There is no on-call sign and there is no need to book taxis. Moving around is easy.

There are about 12,000 taxis in the city area. The flag-down charge is 2.40 yuan (50 Singapore cents) and 2 yuan per kilometre thereafter. The cabs are not brand new but most are comfortable and clean enough for a Third World country.

What impressed me most was the level of service requirements and the details on the print-out receipt. The information allows easy tracking of abuse. A closer look showed the following items:

City authority stamp

Name of taxi company

Company telephone number

Code number of tax invoice

Tax invoice number

Taxpayer's ID number

Taxi plate number

Vehicle registration number

Date - year, month and day

Board time - exact hour and minute

Disembark time - exact hour and minute

Flag-down charge - 2.40 yuan

Distance travelled - down to 0.1km

Grand total

When we travelled to the outskirts, the driver asked if we wanted to go by highway (and pay toll) or congested city road. He did not ask us which way or how to go. He just gave us a choice - longer travel time or shorter time at a slightly higher price.

I asked some drivers why their company does not provide phone booking service. They said, with so many taxis around the city chasing customers, why waste money on a service that is not required?

Cabbies pay 150 yuan for day shift and 80 yuan for night shift. Some told us that working an honest 12-hour shift gave them fairly good returns.

I wonder why we need to call cabs and pay $3.50 when there are more than 40,000 taxis in our small city of four million. Can Singapore take a leaf from Nanjing and do away with all the frills so commuters, taxi drivers and taxi operators all benefit?

Paul Chan Poh Hoi

antoh SG

i freaking hate the way he describe China as a third world country.

if one day the Chinese National stops to work, do you think you can survive?

NO!!! US needs China if China is down US is down and Singapore is down.

He is a low-key moron

art0925 SG

hey, I will admit it, to be a taxi driver both in S'pore and hk now, i would rather be a hk driver. When the economy was good in the 90's, callers usually will offer up to $HK20 dollars for trips to airport from locations like mid-level, and when times are bad like couple years ago, we gave discounts (illegally) to frequent riders, what we do here is building relationships with the customer. Which I believe, that most Singapore cab company "claimed" they do, but infact, they don't...one funny thing is that, Hong Kong people are keen on making complains to media about everything, but I seldomly seeing them make complains about cabbies, this is because we all try to survive and work together at hard time to ensure all of us can feed our families...as of now, when we don't have much problem in the econ, everything return to normal.

Poolman SG

China is still a third world developing country ma , so... it's not a fact ?

If one day Chinese nationals stops to work , i will survive , many of my fella singaporean will survive too , even maybe leading a more luxury life , at least some of our jobs will not be taken by so call " foriegn talent " ..... what you talking ? We survive cos China helping our economy ? Not really la friend , we have been A China back in the 80's , were you born ? We were then a developing country , now the current China is like the then Singapore , what's the fuss here ?

Who's the moron here , China-man ?

Poolman SG

China nationals really have to thank Singapore for offering them a decent job here in Singapore .

Or they will be more millions whom will be jobless back in China .

USA needs China ? Everyone needs China , everyone trying to make use of each other , face the reality .

105090 SG

yeah. the rental in Sg is realy ridiculous at $92/day.

also, singapore cannot be considered 1st-world country.

Indicators of 1st-world: high education, GDP, GNP, annual income etc

New York, London, Japan ppl annual salary can be S$150,000 and above

singapore average only like S$36,000 or lesser. China maybe only $1000-$12,000 so how to compare ah??

so i say, we compare within Singapore only Cool

actually, its the rental and diesel thats making cabbies and commuters lifes miserable Evil or Very Mad

oh... in a reply today, LTA says SGP now has 22,400 taxis, not 40,000 as accused by Mr Paul

SBS9889U SG

Looks like SMRT wants to win the battle by giving loyalty discounts of $2 - $5 less a day to some taxi drivers