Christmas

Would we be able to enjoy Xmas without your hard work and tolerance for drunken behaviour? No we wouldn't!

Here's wishing a Merry Xmas to all taxi drivers out there. Keep it a safe one. Cheers!

Hyundai Cab

I have noticed a couple of new Hyundai cabs in use by both the yellow taxi company and the blue taxi company (who are actually under the same group now)

So does that mean that Toyota have lost the deal for cabs in Singapore now? Does it mean that Hyundai can be considered robust enough to be used as cabs? Time will tell.

Cabby Passenger Rants

Some people love to call for a cab during peak hours. Some people do that, I'm sure, so that they can continue to gossip with their co-workers while they leave their 'on call' taxi waiting on the street for over ten minutes so that all the other taxi-starved people can drool over it.

Call for Me

Me, on entering the taxi:

"On call for Mark?"

Driver: "What?"

Me: "Mark?" *points at the console*

*driver stares at me intensely*

Me: "M...m... Mark? On call?"

"Where?"

"Mark? On call?!"

"Where??"

"Mark???"

"What?"

"Mark??? On call???"

"Ahh.. On call ah?" *finally*

...and away we went...

Kopi Appointment

Flagging down a taxi one night, I was greeted with the familiar sight of an open window and a vigilant driver hanging over the passenger seat with a face full of the question:

"Where you go ah?!"

"Bukit Panjang!" I shouted, even though I was stood next to the taxi.

To which the driver animatedly replied, "No No No No! I have an appointment! Cannot cannot!" and hastily drove away.

Two minutes later as I'm walking down the same road. What do I see? Mr taxi driver sat at the coffee shop drinking his kopi-o.

Excuses for Credit Cards

All taxis in Singapore have two things in common.

1. They accept all major credit cards.

2. All taxi drivers are excellent at avoiding taking payment by credit card.


Here are some of the excuses I have been given when trying to pay by credit card:


Excuse #1
"The Visa machine is not working yet. They only just installed it." (uh huh)

Excuse #2
"You have to pay the surcharge when paying by credit card. Why not you just pay cash?" (because there was a big frickin queue at the ATM)

Excuse #3
The reception here is not good. (????)

Excuse #4
Driver swipes the card the wrong way. "Oh. The system must be down. Its not working." (Mark then attempts to tell the driver how swipe it but the driver's English turns off.)

Excuse #5
"I'm not trained to use this. I'm a new driver." (Tsk tsk. So many new drivers these days)

Excuse #6
Machine is turned off. "Sorry the machine down." (Grrr.)

Excuse #7
Driver scolds me. "You should have told me earlier that you were paying by card." (How about I don't pay you at all then?)

Excuse #8
Driver has run out of paper. "Sorry no paper liao." (You lying git. I reckon you've got it all stashed in your glove compartment.)

Excuse #9
"I've already put it through as cash." (You can still do the transaction. I've seen it done before. Don't lie to me.)

Excuse #10
Driver keeps smacking his lips and making noises. (I'm going to carry a hand water pistol from now on and squirt people whenever they do that.)

Welcome to the Cabby Advice

Welcome to my new blog. 'The Cabby Advice.'

I've been living and working in Singapore for quite a while now; and taking a taxi late at night has been pretty much a common occurrence for me.

They say that the best way to learn about what's going on in town is to talk to the taxi driver. The taxi driver knows all! This is true to a certain extent but, as I've found out, some taxi drivers give you a little more information than you really need.

This blog is a journal of my recollections of nonsense that some certain taxi drivers have told me. I hope you find it intuitive and amusing.