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Is it a return to the 1984 taxi boycotts?

Update: Librarian Damien Wang looked it up at the NLB Reference Point resource, and there is a mention of the boycott in April 1985

Seems like people are cutting down drastically on cabs these days. I think taxi companies are n denial if they keep calling this a knee jerk reaction.

An old taxi driver told my dad business has been bad. The driver said raising fares only drove away his customers. What the taxi drivers really want, he said, is lower rentals. But of course, we cannot do that. Or else the taxi companies will not have the millions in profits. We must maintain the situation where taxi companies make the rentals no matter how little or how much taxi drivers make.

Below is an interesting post by a Sammyboy forummer:

"I talked with a taxi uncle who has been driving a cab since 1982. Yeo Ning Hong was the Minister for Transport & communications then.

In 1984 the flag down fare increased from $1.20 to $2.00. He recalled that after $4.60 the meter started running very fast. A trip from Ang Mo Kio Ave 4 to Jurong Pier Rd cost $29.00. A trip from Changi airport to chinatown cost $21.00. The meters started running too fast after $4.60, that passengers asked the drivers to reset the meter before it reached $4.60. A trip from Toa Payoh to Jurong West St 42, the driver has to reset the meter 6 times. A trip from Chinatown to Tampines, the meter has to be reset 5 times.

Nobody took taxi, the taxi queue at Changi airport stretched down to Marine Parade then. Traffic Police tried to disperse them but more drivers kept joining the queue. Yesterday, it already stretched till PIE Changi South exit, there was also a long queue at Orchard Towers, and the riot squad was called to disperse the taxi drivers.

After 3 months cabbies started returning taxis and there was a chaos at Sin Ming. The roads were jammed, the workshops there complained but the traffic police helpless.

Then after, NTUC Comfort revised its rates downwards, the flag down fare was $1.60 and the meter run was normal.

There is a possibility that would happen again."

A blessed Christmas to all

"Really ah? Luncheon meat is banned? I didn't know," said Jim at our Christmas Eve gathering.

"I actually have a can of Maling luncheon meat in the house," said Jo, whose home we gathered at for the quiet potluck dinner.

"We'll trade you these two cans of caviar for one of your Maling," one of us said in jest. And we started discussing the merits of other brands of luncheon meat.

We spent the evening ploughing through the food and playing Taboo and Pictionary (the old-school first edition one without the extra moves like drawing with your left hand), and laughed till we were almost asthmatic. The kids were in the room watching High School Musical 2, leaving the adults to draw badly and try to psyche each other out.

Good food, lovely wine, love and laughter, and the company of old friends. May your Christmas blessed with these and more.

Postscript: Just to clarify, the China luncheon meat brands are banned, not the rest. But then the China ones are the ones Singaporeans devour the most.

Her hair is finally long enough

"Why is Faith in these braids ah?" I asked.

"Oh, she keeps eating her hair, so we tied it up for her," said one of the maids.

Pretty.

All the 3 kids always had short hair. Born with little hair, and grew slowly. So it was a nice change to see Faith with hair long enough to tie.

A friend jokingly told me his wife prayed for their firstborn girl would come out with a full head of hair. And their baby has a LOT of hair, man.

It is believed by an older generation that babies must have their heads shaven so that the hair will grow fuller. I wonder how many parents still do this. We never shaved our little ones.

Larkin Step, by ling86

Update: Ling's Youtube channel has been hacked. That is why the old video was unavailable. I replaced the video with another source. And here is Ling talking about her account being hacked.

On one of the local forums, Ling was described as "chio S'pore gal wif nice song, vocal & talent".

Gorgeous song, and already listened to more than 879,000 times.

Ling has a free concert on the 20th of December, 7pm, at the Esplanade.

Gone cycling

It's Monday and my Joo Chiat bike shop Uncle, who is in his sixties, was returning my Hardrock to me after helping me install the SG Labs grips I stupidly installed the wrong way.

"Rainy these days, hor," I said.

"Yesterday was ok," he said.

"I thought it rained," I said.

"Oh, wait. It was Sunday. I wasn't in Singapore, so it might have rained, I wouldn't have known," he mused.

"Where were you?" I asked.

"Oh, went cycling with my group, we cycled into Malaysia, about 140km in total," he said.

"You did that in one day?" I said, incredulously.

"Oh yes. On a bike not unlike yours, mountain bike with slicks. I'm not even the oldest amongst my cycling kaki, I am third oldest, I think. There is one in his seventies, and another in his eighties."

I mention the new 42km loop in the eastern park connector network and he says, "一下子就骑完了。" ("You'd finish riding that in a short time.")

When sixty-something Uncle Teck "goes cycling", he is talking 140km across the Causeway and back. Puts us young (and middle-aged) punks to shame, man.

Now folding bikes also cannot ah?

Even in bags?

From the Straits Times forum today (17 December 2007):

Allow folded bikes on buses and trains

MY 15-YEAR-OLD nephew has been an avid BMX stunt cyclist for more than a year.

He meets his friends about three times a week at the Youth Park in Somerset Road.

This is a healthy and exciting sport for youngsters like him and we applaud the efforts by the Ministry of Community Development, Youth & Sports and the National Youth Council to provide a place for extreme sports for bikers and skaters since 2004.

However, there is an important issue regarding transport for these cyclists which I would like the authorities to address.

My nephew has told me that in the past few months, he and his friends have been stopped many times by officers at MRT stations and told not to take their bicycles onto the train.

Please note that these bikes have been dismantled and folded neatly into special BMX bags which the bikers carry on their shoulders. The bags have clear BMX logos to indicate a bicycle inside.

When they explained they were only carrying bicycles to the Youth Park at Somerset, they were asked to leave the MRT station and find another means of transport. They were even threatened with a fine if they continued to take their bikes on the train.

Getting on the bus has also been a problem for these youngsters. Bus drivers have asked them rudely what they were carrying in their big black bags. Some have asked them to leave the bus.

So it seems the only means of public transport for this group of bikers is by taxi.

This does not make sense, as the Youth Park is located in the heart of town in Orchard Road next to Somerset MRT station. In fact, this is what my nephew has done for the past few months, spending a lot of money simply to pursue the sport he loves.

Ng Lai Yien (Ms)

That's not the message from a letter from SMRT dated July 14th 2006:

Why bicycles are not allowed on trains

ST Forum, 14 July 2006

I REFER to the letters, "Allow bikes in last cabin of MRT train" by Nuryusman Ibrahim (ST, June 27), "Provide more MRT trains and let bikes on-board" by Jenson Chen Zhirong (ST Online, June 30), "Allow bikes in last cabin of MRT" by Andy Ab Samad (ST Online, July 5), "Bikes in trains could lead to problems" by Heng Cho Choon (ST Online, July 5) and "Disciplinary action needed on some MRT commuters'' by Paul Chan Poh Hoi (ST Online, July 7).

Currently, only foldable bicycles are allowed on board our trains. Irrespective of a suggested fare charge, standard bicycles, being fairly large, pose problems of space as well as safety, particularly when the train is crowded.

Blah blah blah gahmen working to solve transport problems

Notice there was not a single mention of bicycles. Never mind that bicycles are less polluting, take up less space, and are healthier choices.

Oh by the way, you cannot make cars expensive and the usage expensive too. If I buy a car at our ridiculous Singapore prices, I am going to use that sucker every chance I get. Nobody is going to let his expensive car sit at home depreciating.

Meanwhile, instead of making roads safer for cyclists, the authorities continue to flog the Tampines footpath project. Where cyclists have to ride slowly with pedestrians and dismount-and-push at bus stops and road crossings.

Bikes belong to the road not pedestrian walkways. Having volunteer wardens will not change that. Bikes are vehicular traffic, not slightly-faster pedestrians.

Neither are bicycles merely recreational objects that should be content with moving within the park connectors. Which, by the way, are called park disconnectors by some, because there are many bits that don't connect and cyclists have to carry their bikes across underground staircases and other obstacles.

Dumb blondes are a myth, really

Contestant has to wrestle with a difficult geography question on a quiz show in this Youtube video.

(via singapore plebian)

Sniff, I am so touched

This little model of a Claymore mine was made out of white tac by talented artist Kai (link to his deviantART page), who plays Call of Duty 4 with me in the office, in honour of my annoying habit of planting these suckers every chance I get.

I learned this from the Master of Demolition himself, Mr Tan. I'm not a very good player and cannot shoot for shit, so I focus on being a suicide bomber cum serial knifer. I am a melee kind of Call of Duty 4 player, packing Claymores, a shotgun and my knife. I die a lot but dammit I plan to knife you or blow up trying.

Complain about taxi somemore?

As part of responding to customer feedback that taxis are hard to come by and the surcharges are confusing, ComfortDelgro taxi company added MORE surcharges effective Monday, 17 December 2007.

For fun and laughter, here is a summary of the review:

City Area Surcharge: up from $1 to $3, effective 5pm and midnight from Mondays to Saturdays.

Late Night Surcharge: up from the staggered 10% to 50% current one, to the flat 50% extra for rides between 12 midnight to 5.59am daily.

The fun part is, this 50% more at midnight deal was the original plan before going staggered. Neither solved the problem of disappearing cabs at 11pm to 11.59pm.

And if you think the silly $3 City Area surcharge is going to solve things, good luck to you. And also, what about the disappearing cabs OUTSIDE the CBD?

Peak Period Surcharge: up from the $2 flat fee now in effect between 7am and 9.30am on weekdays and 5pm to 8pm from Mondays to Saturdays, to 35% of the metered fare.

And the company says, a detailed breakdown of this extra "premium fare" will be shown on each receipt "to ensure transparency".

Why is it called a premium fare? Does the cab become a first-class cabin at those surcharge hours? Does the driver speak nicer to you? If anything, the surcharges are not premium fares, but just punishment fares.

Flag down fare: up by 30 cents from $2.50 to $2.80 for the first kilometre.

Distance fare: up from 10-cent jumps to 20-cent jumps.

Waiting time: up from 10 cents per 25 seconds to 20 cents per 45 seconds.

Only the prime time booking fee is going down from $4 to $3.50.

So if you call for a cab from the city, at 8pm on a Friday night, you are going to pay $10.30 even before the cab moves off ($3 City Area surcharge, $2.80 flag down, $3.50 call charge, $1 or 35% of metered fare for Peak Period surcharge).

If you happen to be in the city on a weekday, only 8.5 hours of your day is surcharge-less.

Between 5pm to the next morning from Monday to Saturday, you only have a four hour window, 8.01pm to 11.59pm, where you don't get charged an extra % of your metered fare.

My wife and I waited 45 minutes for a cab at Suntec City Convention Centre on a Saturday night. Most of the cabs were either changing shift, or On Call. One SMRT cab even waited in front of our queue with the On Call sign on, and after a spell, gave up and picked up a passenger at our queue. Others dropped off passengers and suddenly became On Call at our area.

With these surcharges, confusing and high, the taxi company has made it easier for us to decide how to get around the next time we are at Suntec City.

We will take the train home. Or if I am alone, I will ride my bike home.

Friend Jason said to me over ICQ, "i think i should seriously consider riding bike to and from work".

"i told you to do so long ago liao", I messaged back. "somemore you have the perfect bike for commuting, hybrid bike. indulge your bicycle hobby, get some exercise, and save money getting to work, what is not to like?"

"i should hor?" he asks a rhetorical question.

"the only reason i take cabs these days is that my hours are crazy and to spend less time traveling , i take cab", he messaged back, "now must recon, i need to scout where i can park bike in office."

At least we can thank the cab company for driving one of their regular customers into the arms of a healthier, and more environmental-friendly form of transportation.

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