It's not easy being a cabby - letter from Steve Wang

[Yip Hon]

It's not easy being a cabby


Letter from Steve Wang 04:45 AM Jul 19, 2011

I REFER to the recent letters criticising errant taxi drivers who refuse to pick up passengers on the street.

I am a taxi driver, in my mid-30s, and was previously a manager. I have been driving for two years and to my surprise, it is not as easy a job as I thought it was - I used to picture being a taxi driver as carefree and with no deadlines to meet.

First, the rental for the taxi varies from S$80 to S$130 a day excluding GST and fuel charges. In all, we need to pay about S$110 to S$150 a day to the company before we can start earning for ourselves.

We need to drive for five hours just to cover the rent and fuel; we make our revenue in the subsequent hours. Furthermore, fuel prices are on the rise.

Sometimes passengers who make a booking simply jump into another cab without considering that the cabby they have called has had to rush to pick them up. Certain companies also levy a charge of 50 cents on the driver once he has accepted the booking.

Being self employed, we do not have CPF savings or health insurance. Thus we need to drive about 12 to 14 hours a day.

Critics should put themselves in our shoes and try being a cabby.

I would urge the relevant authorities or taxi companies to bar passengers who consistently fail to show up after calling for a cab.

 

[halsey02]

On the other side of the coin, we have to suffer with the cab drivers who; pick & choose passengers basing on colour, race & religion, Forever Changing Shifts from 0:00 to 12 noon, Empty cabs with Busy, On Call excuses, not able to get a cab when it drizzle, afraid of rain, wind & thunderstorms. No cab on the road, to pick up fare & you are waiting for more than 30 minutes, but when you get on to a phone & call RADIO TAXIS, you get one in 5 minutes and so forth.

Yet!, it is not uncommon to read, hear complains about their plights! There is something wrong with the equation.

 

[DubLi]

Yes I sympatised with you Steve Wang. I too know of friends who were graduates and managers now driving cabs. Life is not easy I must say. Especially when they meet with an accident.

I have this friend who drove for SmartCab. He quitted three years ago. Suddenly he received a lawyer's notice of an accident long past. He was sued as a third party for an accident he has no recollection of. He passed the notice to the company for action. SmartCab told him he will have to take care of the suit himself as he had not make an accident report!

How could he when he wasn't even involved? Or any knowledge of it. SmartCab took the easy way out instead of protecting its drivers.

Now he has to appear in the court case himself, or be made to pay for the damages sought by the defendants. Wrong company to drive with...?

 

[cooleo]

At the end of the day, the cab driver did not explain why....

"I REFER to the recent letters criticising errant taxi drivers who refuse to pick up passengers on the street"

 

[Muthukali]

I think must ask krafty for FR.

 

[red amoeba]

It's not easy being a cabby


Letter from Steve Wang 04:45 AM Jul 19, 2011

I REFER to the recent letters criticising errant taxi drivers who refuse to pick up passengers on the street.

I am a taxi driver, in my mid-30s, and was previously a manager. I have been driving for two years and to my surprise, it is not as easy a job as I thought it was - I used to picture being a taxi driver as carefree and with no deadlines to meet.

First, the rental for the taxi varies from S$80 to S$130 a day excluding GST and fuel charges. In all, we need to pay about S$110 to S$150 a day to the company before we can start earning for ourselves.

We need to drive for five hours just to cover the rent and fuel; we make our revenue in the subsequent hours. Furthermore, fuel prices are on the rise.

Sometimes passengers who make a booking simply jump into another cab without considering that the cabby they have called has had to rush to pick them up. Certain companies also levy a charge of 50 cents on the driver once he has accepted the booking.

Being self employed, we do not have CPF savings or health insurance. Thus we need to drive about 12 to 14 hours a day.

Critics should put themselves in our shoes and try being a cabby.

I would urge the relevant authorities or taxi companies to bar passengers who consistently fail to show up after calling for a cab.

===

the debate of taxi drivers vs passengers is never ending. We commuters, too have tons of complains against cabbies:
-stinky cabs
-purposely turn on the on-call signs / busy signs when seeing someone flagging for cab along the road
-act stupid and taking a longer route.
-drive aggressively when without passengers but drive damm slowly when there is passenger

==
a myriad of taxi surcharges that it is not easy to understand , ok, it is not the fault of the cabbie but the cabbie company.

 

[streetsmart73]

hi there


1. i had spoken to several cab drivers when i hopped into their cabs.
2. yes, generally services have improved.
3. many of the drivers are also pmet professionals who are trying to make ends meet.
4. there are common people squeezed in-between that the elite sheep are clueless.
5. but of course, there are also the black sheep that pick passengers.

 

[cooleo]

Cab drivers mostly asshole one la.

- don't give way
- anyhow horn
- anyhow just pull over to pick up passengers
- disappear just before midnight and come out after midnight charges kick in
- like to talk cock with passengers
- some even worse....like to waste time posting in Sammyboy when they should be driving!

 

[Alamaking]

No job in SG is easy lah, pengz...

 

[Muthukali]

No job in SG is easy lah, pengz...

everywhere is the same...
Always remember, its takes "alot" to be a bitch too.

 

[melzp]

I would urge the relevant authorities or taxi companies to bar passengers who consistently fail to show up after calling for a cab.

I always say "aren't u from the same Taxi Co?", when i booked fm NTUC n hopped
onto citycab.

 

[mei mei]

In all, we need to pay about S$110 to S$150 a day to the company before we can start earning for ourselves.

We need to drive for five hours just to cover the rent and fuel; we make our revenue in the subsequent hours.

I find this hard to believe the cabby can only recover costs after driving for five hours. Is it true? Take $150 as rental. Maybe $50 (I don't know how much) for fuel. That is $200.

So taxi driver drive for five hours, the fare they collect is only $200?? Sure or not?

 

[leetahbar]

in singapore, it's never easy to be anything except being the president of singapore.

 

[Yip Hon]

I find this hard to believe the cabby can only recover costs after driving for five hours. Is it true? Take $150 as rental. Maybe $50 (I don't know how much) for fuel. That is $200.

So taxi driver drive for five hours, the fare they collect is only $200?? Sure or not?

Steve's situation is that of a sole hirer ( meaning he has

the cab all to himself ) . About 60 % of all cabbies in

Singapore drive alone . Therefore his costs are higher as he

rightly pointed out.

When you have a "relief driver" then your costs are halved.

But having a "relief driver" can be problematic especially

when you have one that is "boh chap" .

 

[bryanlim1972]

No job in SG is easy lah, pengz...

President is easy job. a couple of $Ms just to stir biryani now and then

 

[cooleo]

Being a President is like taking on another hobby!

 

[talkincock]

Steve's situation is that of a sole hirer ( meaning he has

the cab all to himself ) . About 60 % of all cabbies in

Singapore drive alone . Therefore his costs are higher as he

rightly pointed out.

When you have a "relief driver" then your costs are halved.

But having a "relief driver" can be problematic especially

when you have one that is "boh chap" .

If you drive 16 hours every day then you will need redbull to go accident free and to earn $4000 a month.

 

[cooleo]

Drive cab $4,000 a month without medical and dental benefits; no annual leave; no bonus; no career progression; no wage adjustment and must drive whole day is damn cuiz!

 

[Yip Hon]

If you drive 16 hours every day then you will need redbull to go accident free and to earn $4000 a month.

Daily Income Of A Cabby :


Rule of Thumb S$20/- per hour on average

( peak and non peak included ) .


Taxi Companies and Its Army Of Tabulators

with up to the day data of Cabbies daily income

will not miss this

 

[Yip Hon]

Drive cab $4,000 a month without medical and dental benefits; no annual leave; no bonus; no career progression; no wage adjustment and must drive whole day is damn cuiz!

Bro , now we know why accident on the road mostly involved cab drivers ...