Dec 12, 2007
Think twice before boarding that
taxi
WITH the latest announcement of revised taxi charges, it is high
time commuters rely on the more efficient train network.
If you do need a taxi, my advice is to take a train out of the city
and then board a taxi at one of the housing estates.
That way, you do not have to pay a multi-tier taxi fare.
Everyone cites increasing operating costs, but do the authorities
know that the salary of the man in the street is not increasing at
the same pace?
Following the revised charges, if I were to take a cab to Yishun
from Raffles Place, I would have to pay the new metered fare and a
host of surcharges.
Let's say the fare is $12. I would have to pay an extra $4.20 (35
per cent more for the peak-period surcharge), and $3 for the
city-area surcharge, making a total of $19.20.
Then there is the Electronic Road Pricing charge, depending on the
number of gantries you pass through.
So for those who work in the city area and need to travel a long
distance to get home, it is time to think twice before boarding
that taxi.
Chua Kim Choo
http://www.straitstimes.com/ST%2BForum/Story/STIStory_185901.html
Trains getting more and MORE crowded! 
BTW, I would just like to share a comment *very biased* that one of
the ST people posted...
"HI you can do that switch if you live in Hong Kong. But in
Singapore, you need to factor in waiting time. You wait 20 minutes for your
MRT and another 45 minutes for your
cab! How could LTA folks agree to all these complex charges! Can
someone from LTA or any of those well paid Comfort management come
out in the public and explain how these surcharges actually benefit
anyone? It's like a little kid playing computer games and randomly
assigning charges to whatever parameter they wish to take on.
Get real LTA, get real dear MPs, and please other cabinet ministers
...... please do not let Singapore's taxi service be an
embarassment to our country. No country in this planet have such
complex charges and we have not put a man in Mars yet, so we aren't
that sophisticated.
I feel that the part which I underlined in blue is very unfair to
the MRT. This 20 minutes is obviously exaggerated out of 7 minutes
which is 100% false. It only gives others an impression that our
MRT isn't good at all. But come on, if train waiting time is 20
minutes and yet SMRT can still achieve 40 million passenger rides
for a single month... 
