I am no Robot Cab

By Maria Almenoar Transport Correspondent

Taxi driver Muhammad Hasnor Hashim has changed his account of life as a taxi driver a week after making the news for claiming to earn $7,000 a month.

The 32-year-old had told two journalists of The Sunday Times that he earned that sum by working hard and working smart driving a Premier taxi. On Saturday, he said he made $7,000 only once, in May this year, and that he usually earns $4,000 to $5,000 a month.

He is also no longer driving a Premier taxi. He said on Saturday that he had left the company after three months because other cabbies there were unhappy with him. "They would see me in the lift and make comments at me," he added.

Premier Taxis confirmed that he is no longer one of its drivers, but declined to confirm if he left on his own or if his contract had been terminated. Its spokesman would only say that the reasons for his departure were confidential. Mr Muhammad said he is now driving for another cab operator.

Background story

What Mr Muhammad told The Sunday Times at his first interview where both a reporter and a photojournalist were present

"My taxi is a money machine."

What Mr Muhammad told the photojournalist during an interview for The Straits Times' Through the Lens video series, when asked if it was true that taxi drivers cannot earn a lot of money

"I don't agree. If I tell you I earn $7,000, some of the taxi drivers outside also get angry, 'Wah lau, this guy, very cocky. Sure or not, $7,000?' But touch their heart, ask themselves, they know."

What Mr Muhammad said yesterday, when asked why he gave the figure of $7,000 in the original interview

"Maybe I thought I was being asked how much a taxi driver can earn."


As reported in Berita Minggu, he earned on average 3K a mth. Only during mth of May he was a "robot cab". Hit 7K. Work started fm 5am and ended at 3am the next morning. The ordeal he went thru...back and leg pain and had to sleep in his cab.

"I don't agree. If I tell you I earn $7,000, some of the taxi drivers outside also get angry, 'Wah lau, this guy, very cocky. Sure or not, $7,000?' But touch their heart, ask themselves, they know."

Click to expand...

what did i say about sinkie behaviour???

This is the exact sinkie behaviour i am talking about. lucky i stay away from sinkie so that my life is a happy one.

Other people earn so much, the sinkies get angry.

instead of try to learn from him his secret to "success" , they get envy and jealous.. What a bunch of low life sinkie shit losers.. no wonder they cannot make it in life..

A sinkie is sinkie. Cannot change. Just empty brags. First, there is always the statement that Sinkiepore is world-class, then the best in every thing, then the big salary for cleaners. Now this big earning m&d-crap.

The only truth is that Sinkeland has the best paid ministers.

Many of those success stories don't even tell the whole picture. Sadly this is the case for robot cab too.

whoami said:

Work started fm 5am and ended at 3am the next morning. The ordeal he went thru...back and leg pain and had to sleep in his cab.

Click to expand...

That is crazy and dangerous, not only to himself but to his fare as well.

loneshark said:

That is crazy and dangerous, not only to himself but to his fare as well.

Click to expand...

Still young..can endure. But not every day. He did it only for tat particular mth, May.

Leeporters, can they ever be trusted?

Scrooball (clone) said:

Many of those success stories don't even tell the whole picture. Sadly this is the case for robot cab too.

Click to expand...

For every successful stories, teres always sacrifices to be made.

Sorry, 7K net or gross? One time off is called anomaly. If someone like the driver and ask for disposal at 30/hr *9 for 4 weeks can hit 7560 before cutting this and that. But it is likely to a one off thingy.

She defended herself by saying her intention is to find out why more and more young sinkies want to drive cab, instead of reporting the truth, which is the FT policies displacing them from the job market, she came out with this 7k story.
Good to see he ass being kick after that.

Glaringly said:

Leeporters, can they ever be trusted?

Click to expand...

tonychat said:

instead of try to learn from him his secret to "success" , they get envy and jealous.. What a bunch of low life sinkie shit losers.. no wonder they cannot make it in life..

Click to expand...

Hmm....its juz tip of the iceberg. Ppl like jah jamban never like Mat, in the first place. Wait till singkies like him,hear success stories of Pinoy, Ah Neh. I love to hear stories fm FT.

This stupid mat drove from 5am to 3am? Isn't that like 22 hours?

Scrooball (clone) said:

This stupid mat drove from 5am to 3am? Isn't that like 22 hours?

Click to expand...

Only for tat mth lah. He need tat extras to off set his expenditure. At least he has an option. Hes in control. Not so if ur on payroll.

Glaringly said:

Leeporters, can they ever be trusted?

Click to expand...

Maria Almenoar - What can u expect from a Filipina reporter?

.




Taxi driver changes tune on $7,000 income

By Jeanette Tan | Yahoo! Newsroom*–*Tue, Oct 30, 2012

Is it really possible to earn S$7,000 a month from driving taxis? Yes, say most taxi drivers, but one could burn out in the process. (Yahoo! file photo)
UPDATE (4 November, 740am) The taxi driver who claimed to be earning $7,000 a month is reportedly singing a different tune. According to The Straits Times, the cabby said on Saturday that he only made that much in May, and typically his earnings range from $4,000 to $5,000 a month.

Can taxi drivers in Singapore really make as much as S$7,000 a month?

Yes, according to stories carried in The Sunday Times.

But don’t quit your day job yet.

32-year-old Muhammad Hasnor Hashim and 32-year-old Mark Leow, who have only started driving taxis in the past year, told the paper they earn S$7,000 and S$6,000 a month, respectively,

Hasnor reportedly said he earned that hefty amount driving his own “money-making machine” from 5:30am to 9:30am, 2pm to 6pm and after dinner until 10pm six days a week. He also drives on Friday and Saturday nights for extra money, raking in $200 a day even after deducting $150 for rental and fuel costs, and up to $500 a night on Fridays and Saturdays.

In Leow’s case, he drives a seven-seater Maxicab for up to 15 hours a day. His $300 daily income, taking out costs, stems mainly from shuttling hotel guests, corporate clients and airport passengers — and many of his trips carry flat rates.

Drivers in Singapore frequently operate on 12-hour shifts, dividing the day’s rental and fuel with one other cabby who will pull the other shift. Some drivers, like Hasnor, though will rent for a full day, giving them the flexibility to decide when to drive out to ferry passengers.

In the six years he has plied the taxi trade, 49-year-old Jeffrey Loon said he earns anywhere between $20 and $25 from one hour on the roads.

Deducting about $100 for fuel and a half-day rental, the day driver shared that his takings usually come up to at most $200 from a full 12-hour shift, amounting to slightly more than $4,000 a month in takings, working six days each week.

“If you drive for more than 12 hours a day, you could possibly hit $6,000 a month, but how long can you sustain that? You really have to work very hard, and be very disciplined either way,” he told Yahoo! Singapore.

Loon also shared his doubt on the viability of taking breaks in between time on the road, saying he prefers to drive for 12 hours non-stop and then rest afterward.

“It’s really about sustaining the momentum. Once I stop, I find it very hard to start again,” he said. “I find the thought of going back home to rest for two to three hours and having to come out again very daunting.”

Another 54-year-old cabby, who wanted to be known as Mr Yeo, agreed with the hourly amount Loon shared.

In the 10 years’ experience he has had driving taxis in Singapore, Yeo, who drives the 12-hour night shift, told Yahoo! Singapore he earns slightly more than $3,000 a month from working either five- or six-day weeks.

His takings, he says, average at about $120 a night, after deducting $40 for diesel and $52 for his share of the rent.

“I’ve heard of some drivers who work 15 or 16 hours a day, and who earn about $4,000 to $5,000 a month,” he said. “But on eight hours a day, I highly doubt it’s possible to earn so much, unless you’re lucky and always have people waiting for you everywhere you go!”

Once in awhile, Yeo says he sees better months, with takings exceeding $4,000 especially at Christmas and New Year. Apart from that, though, he remains sceptical that it is possible to earn as much as Hasnor does assuming the latter works just 8 hours a day.

Blogger and taxi driver James Lim rebutted some of the various points in the articles.

For example, he said, driving for eight hours a night on a good day, he can take home about $158 after fuel and rental. In a month of 25 days of work, his income can come to about $3,000. Even if a driver does two shifts of 16 hours, he would get about $5,400.

“But can a single person drive 16 hours a day without breaks for 25 days a month? Impossible, unless he is a robot,” he said.

This situation seems to be the case even for younger drivers. One 37-year-old cabby whom Yahoo! Singapore spoke to, who has been plying the roads for the past five years, earns roughly between $3,000 and $4,000 a month as well on the night shift.

“It’s not every day that you can earn,” he said. “The increase in flag-down fares and surcharges has made things easier for us, but there aren’t always people around.”

He shared about a fellow taxi driver who had just started out three months ago, and while that cabby does earn $6,000 a month, he drives from 7:30am to 2:30am, six days a week.

“I asked him, how are you going to wake up for the next day? You can’t keep this up, you’ll burn out,” he said, sharing also that he supplements his income with a small online business selling mobile accessories.

“If I could find a more stable job, I think I would prefer to stop being a taxi driver, so that my income will be fixed,” he added.

Data from the National Taxi Association seems to also point to the possibility that Hasnor and Lewo may be one-off success stories in the taxi industry here.

Advisor to the NTA Ang Hin Kee told Yahoo! Singapore that in general, most taxi drivers earn slightly more than $2,000 a month after offsetting rental, fuel and ERP costs.

“Taxi drivers should not push their physical limit by spending more hours on the road to earn more,” he said. “I spoke with some of the more experienced taxi drivers and they have indicated that earning a net income of $6,000 is almost what two drivers take in with extra hard work. It is hence rather uncommon to achieve that kind of amount driving alone,” he added.

GUESS WHAT RACE...we all know, they like to BOHONG!..and that is a fact & we are not being racist!

Scrooball (clone) said:

This stupid mat drove from 5am to 3am? Isn't that like 22 hours?

Click to expand...

Typo error lah

halsey02 said:

GUESS WHAT RACE...we all know, they like to BOHONG!..and that is a fact & we are not being racist!

Click to expand...

Yes, often what they say must be taken with a pinch of salt. Selalu bohong!

Lee5604 said:

Yes, often what they say must be taken with a pinch of salt. Selalu bohong!

Click to expand...

No only a pinch of salt..MANYAK bohong!

Dont so fast pin point tat particular race as banyak bohong lah. Tell me which race dont bohong?


4 Nov 2012
'Sebenarnya gaji saya cuma $3,000 saja'

PEMANDU teksi yang sebelum ini mendakwa menikmati pendapatan $7,000 sebulan kini menukar ceritanya sambil berkata bahawa beliau sebenarnya hanya sekali sahaja meraih pendapatan setinggi itu.

Selang seminggu selepas kisahnya disiarkan dalam akhbar The Sundaya Times, Encik Muhammad Hasnor Hashim, 32 tahun, menjelaskan hanya meraih pendapatan sebanyak itu pada Mei lalu.

Sebaliknya, secara purata pendapatan beliau ialah $3,000 sebulan.

" Waktu itu, saya tidur dalam teksi, pinggang dan kaki semua lenguh. Saya keluar rumah 5 pagi dan memandu sampai 3 pagi keesokannya.

"Lepas saya kerja teruk-teruk dalam bulan Mei itu, baru saya perlahankan jadual, kerja lapan jam sahaja dan dapat gaji biasa sekitar $3,000 sebulan," ujarnya.

Encik Hasnor berkata, beliau kini tidak lagi memandu teksi syarikat Premier, tetapi sebaliknya bertukar kepada syarikat lain.

Sejak laporan tentang dakwaannya meraih pendapatan $7,000 sebulan, Encik Hasnor telah menerima pelbagai komen dan bidasan daripada ramai orang, khususnya di media sosial.

Mereka mempertikaikan dakwaan itu.

Ini kerana secara purata, gaji seorang pemandu teksi di sini adalah antara $1,800 hingga $5,000 sebulan.

Mengulas, Timbalan Editor The Straits Times, Encik Alan John, berkata wartawan berkenaan telah menghubungi Encik Hasnor beberapa kali minggu ini selepas laporan itu tersiar, namun tidak sekali pun beliau berkata laporan tersebut tidak tepat.

"Kami juga mahu berjumpa dengannya sekali lagi supaya beliau dapat menjelaskan keadaan," ujar Encik Alan, ketika ditemui BH kelmarin.

Sementara itu, Encik Hasnor kini berharap agar orang ramai tidak lagi salah faham.

Menurutnya, beliau bekerja keras pada bulan Mei lalu itu setelah tidak menerima gaji selama dua bulan, pada Februari dan Mac, semasa mengambil kursus vokasional teksi

Encik Hasnor menambah, beliau dipilih syarikatnya untuk diwawancara media.

"Saya ingat dia (wartawan) nak interview saya sebagai pemandu teksi muda sahaja dan tidak akan fokus pada gaji

"Tak sangka pula terpampang gaji saya itu. Sampai bila orang nak jeling saya, nak perli saya? Kalau saya tahu jadi macam ni, saya takkan pergi interview tu," ujar Encik Hasnor.


http://cyberita.asia1.com.sg/singapura/sebenarnya-gaji-saya-cuma-3000-saja