STOMPer Chelsie encountered a stubborn taxi driver who refused
to take her preferred route to her destination but chose to go via
his own way, causing a 40 minute journey to stretch to an
hour.
The STOMPer wrote:
"I boarded a cab with the license plate SHA7991T at Tanjong Katong
on 28 February 2012 at around 2am with two colleagues going to
3 locations, first to Toa Payoh, then to Yishun and lastly to
Woodlands.
"So the driver started the journey and I told him our preferred
route, but to my surprise he did not follow my instructions and
decided to go by his own way.
"Upon realising that he took his OWN preferred route, I questioned
him why. His reply to me was very rude as he raised his voice and
told me that he was a new driver.
"I was very unhappy with his reply, but what happened next was
really terrible.
"After dropping my colleague off at Toa Payoh and a
slight argument with the cab driver over the fact that he
took a longer route, we proceeded to the next destination,
Yishun.
"AGAIN, I told him my preferred route, which was to go by CTE than
SLE.
"But once again, he acknowledged what I said but went by his own
preferred route, as if he was the passenger and I was the cab
driver.
"He went by PIE Tuas, then BKE.
"On the way, I saw places like Bukit Timah and so on, places I
would rarely pass on normal days.
"I got very upset as I was returning home from work and it was
already very late. The cab driver obviously wasted my time, causing
me to have lesser time to rest.
"I started to question the driver about whether he knew where he
was going and why he went by his preferred route.
"And AGAIN, his answer was that he was a new driver.
"I did not accept that reason and decided to call the Comfort
Hotline to give my feedback. As I was feeling very frustrated,
I was raising my voice while speaking to the person on the other
line.
"Then the cab driver asked me to mind my tone in a very rude
way.
"I was the one being driven around the whole of Singapore at around
2am, not knowing where this cab driver would drive me to and
unaware of what his motive was.
"After that, I told him to go to Woodlands first instead of Yishun
as BKE was closer to Woodlands. Only then did he decide to follow
the preferred route and drive properly. There was no more driving
around all the nonsense places.
"I was afraid and worried as it was nearing 3am and I really did
not know what this driver was up to.
"Thus I decided to call my friend to pick me up under the HDB
block.
"Upon reaching, the cab driver asked me to pay him the full amount,
which was $52.30 for the 'tour' that he took me on around
Singapore. I was reluctant to pay the full amount as it was just
not fair.
"Therefore, my friend boarded the taxi and headed to the nearest
police station to lodge a police report. Details were taken down
for reference.
"After we reached at the station, the cab driver suddenly decided
to reduce the fare to $37.00.
"When I reached home, I checked the website for the estimated
distance and time needed to travel from Tanjong Katong to my 3
destinations.
"The website reflected:
"Tanjong Katong Road to Lorong 5 Toa Payoh:
6.9 km, 10 minutes.
"Lorong 5 Toa Payoh to Yishun Street 22: 17.7 km, 22
minutes.
"Yishun to Woodlands Drive: 4.9 km, 10
minutes.
"Total: 29.5km, 42 minutes.
"However, the receipt shows that the total distance covered
for my journey was 44.4 km, and the time taken to travel was 1 hour
and 2 minutes.
"Look at how much time I wasted on this joker, and adding the fact
that I did not feel safe throughout the whole ride not knowing
where he was bringing me to.
"I am pursuing this incident at all costs as the reasons and
excuses that the driver gave were ridiculous.
"Don't taxi drivers have GPS installed in the taxis? How could he
have 'lost his way' and gone by his own preferred route?"
http://singaporeseen.stomp.com.sg/stomp/sgseen/what_bugs_me/976446/cabbie_took_44_km_route.html
