Singapore has the world’s worst taxi drivers
That’s a statement not a question for a reason. It’s true.
Singaporean taxi drivers are the world’s worst. I love living in
Singapore but the one thing that winds me up no end is taxi drivers
lack of ability to do their basic job, take me from point a to
point b.
First question they always ask when you get in a cab, which way
do you want to go. Now they don’t ask this as they do in other
countries where they may be asking for the choice of directions
that the customer wants to go.
No, in Singapore they ask because they have no idea how to get
to the destination. If I hear one more time, “I’m new, I don’t know
the way” when getting in a cab I will scream. My response is
twofold 1) you’re not new to Singapore you have lived here all your
life and 2) it’s your bloody job to know the way!
If someone came to me in my marketing job and said I would like
some marketing advice please and I then turned around and said well
what do you think because I haven’t got a clue, what would happen?
The client would walk out and not pay me. In a Singapore taxi this
happens 75% of every one of my journeys.
There is no excuse. Newness to the roll is pathetic. They are
not new to Singapore, they must know the way. If they do not why
are they taking up a job as a taxi driver?
Whose fault is this incompetence?
The driver, the cab company or the Government? All three in my
view.
The driver really has no excuse. All taxi drivers in Singaporean
have to be Singaporean. They tend to be in their 40’s and 50’s.
Therefore they have lived here all their lives and presumably know
the city inside out. It’s not that big! I have lived here three
years and know most routes! So why don’t they?
Does this come back to always being told what to do by the
Government? They want to be told the way even though it’s their job
and they are, let’s not forget, being paid for this service! Why
don’t they take responsibility and know the routes? Why do they
have to be spoon fed when their livelihood rests on it?
Have the government conditioned them so much that they do not
want to take a risk and go the way that they must know or do they
simply genuinely not know in which case why are they so ignorant
and going around with their eyes closed? It’s their job to know the
way!
No training means greater ignorance. Cab companies clearly do
not train their taxi drives. If they did they would know the way to
anywhere in Singapore or be able to find the way without asking a
passenger. Why don’t they train them? If they do then they
seriously need to look at their program because it does not
work.
What first impressions does this give a tourist arriving at
Changi Airport? That someone completely new to the country could be
asked which direction to go and do you know where it is, the two
most common things a Singaporean taxi driver says!
Don’t believe me? Take the last couple of week’s mishaps as some
recent examples:
Asked to go to Singpost at Paya Lebar the taxi driver took a
detour to Marina Bay... west not east! She then had to ring up
someone to ask the way to Paya Lebar as we sped towards Vivo
City...
Going to Rochester Mall I had to get three taxis before someone
knew the way
I was taken to Suntec when I had said Novena Square
Asked to go to Nicoll Highway from Bugis Junction was told that
he didn’t know where Nicoll Highway was...(it’s next door)
I was taken to Little India when I asked to be taken to Marina
Square (he thought Marina meant inland... Despite Marina Bay,
Marina Square, Marina Bay Sands being the other way...).
Asked to take Stadium Road I was told by my driver that it is
fully closed when it is not and if it was I wouldn’t directing him
that way...
Asked to go to Changi Airport the driver, who was on the ECP
(the correct way) turned off to go the scenic route...
Asked to go to Sentosa Cove went to Sentosa beach (right not
left)
Asked to go to One Shenton, Shenton Way asked for directions and
only knew were to go when I said next to Asia Square! Bizarre
because Shenton Way is old and Asia Square is new!
Asked to go to Great Eastern Centre (great enormous building
with Great Eastern on the top) on Pickering Street (CBD) the driver
didn’t know whether either of them were
Having asked a taxi driver to go to Kallang Leisure Park he
attempted to go the wrong way down Nicoll Highway on the basis that
he could cut across the Stadium only to be surprised that it had
been knocked down and the Sports Hub was being built and it had
closed off all the roads!!! Work started 2 years ago...
I could go on and on and on and on...
What happens at 4pm? Why does “change shift” give taxi drivers
the right to not pick people up? Why do they drop by taxi ranks and
say that they are going to their home and that if anyone else
happens to live next door to them they will take them but if not
they won’t! By the time they have driven around for hours looking
for this perfect passenger who lives next door they could have
taken several people home and earnt some money!
I was given a great example of how some stands get focused on my
taxi drivers. If you are standing waiting for a taxi at Ion, you
have a long wait because it’s not in the CBD. If you move a few
steps to Wisma Atria you will get picked up because it is in the
CBD and that extra couple of dollars makes all the difference to a
taxi driver which brings me on to rain…
When is the one time you can never get a taxi in Singapore
despite their being 26,000 of them, more than any other country per
capita? When it rains.
They disappear. You cannot for anything get a taxi when it
rains. Where do they all go? You can’t even text them or app them
and they usually love that as they get an extra couple of
dollars.
Why do the big posh black SMRT limos that Singaporeans won’t get
into (because it costs a couple of dollars more, they would rather
wait in the queue, even though it is the same cost as texting for
one…) not take card? Why do the red and black/yellow ones do the
same? Which modern country these days only takes cash when all the
marketing from people like Nets, MasterCard, Visa, EZ link is
cashless? Why do some cabs have displayed that they will take
card/they are cashless only to turn around and say only cash? This
usually happens only on a Thursday or Friday…when they don’t get
their money to after the weekend unless it’s a cash payment…
Why are there 25,000 of the 26,000 Singaporean taxis always at
Changi Airport? This is why you can never get a cab when you really
want one. They are all waiting at Changi for that amazing fair,
even though the queue takes hours to go down and they could earn
much more on shorter journeys in the city….
So all of this makes them really bad, but the world’s worst?
Well in London you can’t become a black cab driver unless you know
the “knowledge” which is the A-Z of London streets. You must know
every street, every hotel, every landmark before you get a license.
They should do that in Singapore.
In Australia and New York they allow non Australians and non
Americans to take the roles and the service and knowledge of the
city is better than Singaporeans of Singapore. In fact I would
wager that if you took an Indian who had just got off a plane and
never been to Singapore and gave him a cab he would do a better job
than a Singaporean taxi driver in driving you to your
destination…
Why don’t the Government allow non-Singaporean Asian’s to take
taxi drivers jobs? That would make current drivers them more
competitive and less ignorance and complacent. No more not taking
jobs, no more not knowing the way if they felt like they could be
booted out and replaced by a willing Indian cab driver who had put
the work in and knew the streets inside out and worked all hours to
generate money.
Getting cab drivers to take personal responsibility to know
their own city streets, being properly trained by companies and
creating a competitive market place with non-Singaporean rivals for
their jobs is the only way forward for Singaporean cab drivers. If
nothing changes they will continue to be the world’s worst taxi
drivers and continue to be the black mark on the tourism and
business marketing of our otherwise amazingly run city state.
