Endoh’s Dungeon

Recently, I have been reading quite a bit of complaints on taxi drivers and I realised the trend has changed. What used to be a mere complaint, developed into a trend of “public disgracing” by posting up their license plates. No doubt the scenarios in many complaints are stale by now, I began to wonder if some of these people are actually barking up the wrong tree?

Take a road-trip back 10 years ago, we hardly hear of such complaints. Perhaps at that time, Singaporeans do not have any means of expressing themselves. Given forums & blogs now, we may have found a voice finally. How we use that voice, is another matter altogether. Are taxi drivers the evil behind all these complaints? Have our taxi drivers all gone rogue?

When I sat back and think about it, the complaints didn’t suddenly surface because of a drastic dip in service overnight, but rather they came about amid the various price hikes over recent years. Let’s face it, we are all unhappy. I am no different from anybody else. It brought me to the conclusion that because many are unhappy over the price hikes, they began going around nitpicking on the drivers. Nitpicking on things they previously wouldn’t bother about that is. When one can’t get their message across to the taxi companies, they vent it on the drivers over the slightest thing.

I am no different from anybody. I had my fair share of ugly taxi drivers. However, they are at a minimal. 90% of the taxi drivers I have encountered are still generally helpful and pleasant, many of which I had a good chat with and understanding their point of views as a taxi driver. And why not, since my neighbour used to be a taxi driver too?

Through all these chats and some details from my neighbour many years ago, I began to see the true picture of the taxi network here in Singapore. There are little taxi drivers can do to price hikes, and in fact, they are equally hit by these price hikes. What many Singaporeans do not know (while busy complaining and disgracing away), for every few cents extra passengers have to pay, the taxi drivers have to pay a few dollars more in rental. Believe it or not, deposits and daily rentals come from the taxi drivers’ pocket. They still pay their rental fees even if they decide to take a day off.

So are our roads seriously laiden with so many rogue taxi drivers? Personally, I reckon not. But such powerful are the mouths of the social media, 1/1000 can be easily manipulated into 1/100.

I often tell friends… bark you may. But make sure you are not barking up the wrong trees. If you can’t gather enough courage to bark at the right tree, then just zip up and not bark at all. There is no use in venting our anger on another party in any way, when these people can’t do anything much and are very much the victims as all of us. All the unhappiness roots from the price hikes afterall, be it we admit it or not. One thing just led to another.

Another interesting thing is, most of these complainants will never say a word of goodness about nice taxi drivers they have encountered. Given my own experiences, the average Singaporean drivers on the street are equally ugly. Do we hear a word of it from these complainants?

Passengers who change their routes and insist taxi drivers make a turn illegally… Drivers who refuse to give way to taxi drivers no matter what the circumstances… Passengers who refuse to take the advice of a shorter route but blame the taxi driver for over-charging them… Drivers who horn the taxi drivers even though 5secs is all it takes for a passenger to board, but later on stopped his car in the taxi stand for a glorious long time… Passengers who have never been educated on traffic rules & flag a taxi at the cross junction… Jokers who eat in the taxi…

You name it, we have it. Colourful Singapore, isn’t it? But shamefully, Singaporeans will not talk about it. The list goes on & on, but are you interested to know?

Let’s do away with all the fanciful English, trying to put words together so nicely. Let’s just say, Singaporeans can be quite an ungrateful lot of people during certain scenarios. When they can’t get their message across to the government, they take it out on the civil servants. When they are unable to get their anger into the heads of taxi companies, they take it out on the taxi drivers. Even when parents are unable to discipline their own children, they blame it on the teachers. Now, can we blame our younger generations for growing up with these traits?

Uniquely Singapore, I say!

If there’s anything I can still say, I would say - live and let live. The Chinese has one saying; every finger you point out there’s four pointing back at you. It’s true! Go to the mirror and point into your reflection, see where the other fingers are pointing?