Taking passengers with wheelchair

My taxi driver was a man with compassion.   As my brother and I helped mum out of her wheelchair, he opened the boot and came out of his vehicle ready to help.

As we helped mum into his taxi,  he asked if he can help keep the wheelchair in the boot, and he did.

My mum fell at home and while nothing was visibly broken, she'd been complaining about a nagging pain on her shoulder.  She's 76 and we didn't want to take any chances so we decided to bring her to A&E in case something's broken.

When we arrived at the hospital,  my taxi driver once again helped with the wheelchair.   As my mum was really slow,  he waited patiently for her to move onto her wheelchair and for me to wheel her to safety before I pay the fare.

We're blessed with good taxi drivers and may he be blessed with good passengers as well.

Budget for me meh?

I was stuck in a meeting from 3PM and missed the budget announcements and was anxious to catch up.  As I hopped onto my taxi, I asked my taxi driver at the first opportunity "Uncle, did you hear the budget anouncement?"

He said "Yes, they are giving more supplements to Low Income Workers.  Workers earning less than $1900 will get more income supplements and CPF contributions."

So I said "Wah, being poor in Singapore is very good hor?"

Uncle sniggered and said "In Singapore, you can only be very poor or very rich, in between pai tan jiak." (Difficult to earn a living).

Then he said "Tjeng hu also giving companies money to pay their staff more salary, tjeng hu will pay 40% of staff salary increments for workers earning less than $4000.  Not bad lah, if you have a job lor.  Taxi drivers don't have these benefits."

Just then, we heard an announcement on the radio that commercial vehicles including taxis will get a 30% road tax rebate!!

And I excitedly said "Uncle!!!  You heard this?  You will get 30% road tax rebate!!!"  to which he retorted "Our taxis are all rented, these rebates will go to taxi company, not to us!"


As I alighted from the cab, I told uncle "Uncle, let's hope the taxi companies will do the right thing.  If not, National Taxi Association, NTA should do the right thing and push for the rebates to be passed back to all the taxi drivers!"

Uncle only said "Ok ok.  Have a good day yar!"

<updates> 27 February 2013 -- National Taxi Association uged Taxi Operators to pass these rebates to the taxi drivers and Comfort agreed!

http://www.todayonline.com/singapore/cabbies-urge-operators-let-them-have-budget-2013s-full-road-tax-rebate

Stay alert My Taxi Drivers!

I told my taxi driver "Hello Uncle, I want to go to Hong Lim Park today." and the uncle responded "Speaker's Corner is it?" and I said "Yes." and we're on our way.

And Uncle asked me what's happening at Speaker's Corner and I told him that someone organized a protest against our government for wanting a population of 6.9m!  to which Uncle responded, "It's about time that we speak up and tell the government what we want in Singapore!"  And my mind raced to the Singapore Conversation -- and we've been telling the government what we want.



Source : www.facebook.com/FiveStarsandAMoon



And I thought about the white paper and realised that what we wanted in the Singapore conversation will be executed as part of the white paper.  So I asked uncle what are the things that Singaporeans should tell the government?  And he gave me these points:

1. We want JOBS!  The foreigners are taking away our jobs!
2. We want AFFORDABLE public transport and reliable MRT!
3. We want FREE healthcare, we are getting old!

But uncle -- our unemployment rate in December is 1.8%.  It is already a very tight labour market and the white paper details REDUCING reliance on FTs/FWs, not increasing.

But uncle -- if MRT really pull up its socks, you will have less taxi passengers.  But uncle is right, we should have affordable and reliable public transport system.

But uncle -- our healthcare system can be free IF we pay more tax.  If it's free Healthcare will become a buffet -- consume all you can.  And this will lead us to a vicious cycle of tax more for free healthcare.  I wish uncle can read this article on Healthcare in Singapore vs the UK.


Ah wells!  as I arrived I was very tempted to invite uncle to join me at Speaker's Corner.  Then again, maybe not.


The atmosphere at Speaker's Corner was like a carnival, like a gathering.  People were dressed up nicely, and yes!  it is crowded.  Feels like all 6.9m people are at the park.

I love his gear.  Looks expensive.

Photo credit : Through the Lens





Pretty Backdrop.  Like a child's party.





 

 





They don't look happy.  =(   and that looks like Mr. Tan Jee Say.

 



I wonder if children should be used in Political Activities.

Photo Credit : The Alternative View



I think this protest is misguided.  Was a little xenophobic at times.

Photo credit : The Real Singapore

My observation is that this is more politically motivated, and listening to the rousing speeches, I was not comfortable with how they have put Singaporeans down.  Are we not strong enough to face global competition? 

The organizers know that we are touchy about national identity, concerned with having a better quality of life and took the opportunity discredit the white paper to score political points for themselves. 

It's very well organized that groups of people (apparently supporters of different political organizations) would respond to their speaker in the same way.  And when the next speaker comes up, another group of supporters will respond.

The different political parties were eager to lend weight to the organizer as the international and main stream media would be there.  And why not?  When was the last time so many Singaporeans showed up?  Nevermind that this might tarnish our country's reputation.

The danger in this is that as opposing parties oppose for the sake of scoring political points for themselves.  And if Singaporeans are not discerning, our nation will really go into this decline ignoring the signs and warnings along the way, distracted by the blinking lights of words.

The White Paper alerts us on the crises we face ahead:

an ageing and declining population
                                            as well as shrinking workforce

The white paper details how our government is preparing to face these crises instead of leaving it to a new and less experienced government.  I think our Prime Minister has guts to tell us this now, and not sweep it under the carpet. 

Stay alert my taxi drivers,
and look ahead, look back and look around 
to avoid dangers.

It's a lifestyle choice!

I've never been so upset with my taxi driver!  I don't remember how the conversation started but it led to me telling him "I'm just a taxi passenger, don't tell me your problems if you don't want to hear my solution!"

He was telling me that cost of living in Singapore is so high.  He lives in a 4-room flat with a teenage son and a homemaker wife, and he says he's struggling.  Ok, I understand this, because we are dual income supporting a family of 6.  

And he gave an example of utilities bill.  He says his average bill is over S$400 per month and I said, wow!  that's high for a family of 3.  Because our average bill for family of 6 is about S$200.  And I explained that we don't switch on our aircon and we hardly watch TV.  The biggest guzzler of power is probably our computer notebooks.  

This is a screen shot of our January 2013 bill, when the actual reading was taken.

This bar graph shows our past consumption, the line across being the national average.

Then he berated and say how can Singaporeans live without aircon?  Our weather is so hot!  Our government should lower utilities cost!  

For someone like me, raised by my mum and dad to conserve water and save electricity, I think it's not fair that the government should lower the cost of utilities as this would cause more careless use of precious resources.

Most of us were raised without aircon and TV, why do we need them now?  If cost of living is high, it's because our consumption has gone up. 

For our family, we are cushioned from the effects of rising cost of living because of our lifestyle choice.  

Chinese New Year!

It may be a tradition for our Prime Minister but I'd just noticed it a couple of years ago, that our Prime Minister Lee would spend time with people working on the first day of Chinese New Year as a gesture of thanks to acknowledge their commitment.  While many of us have taken the Chinese New Year holidays for granted, there are people in logistics, security, cleaning, healthcare, service and transport who would work throughout the holidays.

I remember as a child, my mum would prepare a few red packets on the first day of Chinese New Year for the rubbish truck driver and his crew as they drive by our home to collect our trash, she does this as a gesture of thanks.  This may be insignificant to many of us today, but my mum was a domestic maid for the expatriate family and certainly does not earn a lot of money and I love her for her generous spirit.

When I heard that the National Taxi Association (NTA) will be going to Changi Airport to greet taxi drivers this Chinese New Year I thought "Wow! I'll like to be there!"  Primarily because my dad was a taxi driver and I thought this was a very nice gesture.

Knowing that NTA would be early, I planned to arrive at the Airport by 7 AM.  And as the sky lightened up, the road leading to T3 was already quite crowded and there're quite a few taxis on the road.  I am really looking forward to catching some action.

As I arrived at T3, I went to both the arrival and departure halls and didn't see anyone who looked like they were greeting the taxi drivers, so i took a skytrain to T1 and saw the taxi queues.  I thought now that would be a nice place to greet taxi drivers as they wait for passengers.

I asked around and was told that NTA was just coming over to T1 and sure enough, the team stepped out of the skytrain.

So I followed along and caught them in action....they walked from taxi to taxi, greeting each driver with a bag of goodies as well as a red packet.

The NTA team has apparently been at the airport since 5:30 AM and was preparing the oranges in the goodie bag as well as the red packets which contains "hope" to be a millionaire (a lottery ticket).

I didn't know much about NTA and the gentlemen I was walking with told me that most of the people distributing the goodie bags are taxi drivers themselves.  They are union leaders who decided to volunteer their time to encourage their fellow drivers who are working on the first day of Chinese New Year.  The gentleman leading the effort was the Advisor to NTA, Mr. Ang Hin Kee, who is also an MP in Ang Mo Kio GRC.  Now I wonder what my dad would say to that!    =)

There were a few ladies, a young lady who works for NTUC as an Industrial Relations Officer and she walked along even though she was expecting a baby in July.  There was also a lady taxi driver.

It was a unique experience that reminded me to be thankful to people working 24/7 to keep Singapore moving.  As I went home to join my family in visiting our relatives, I prepared extra ang pows to give to those who are working this Chinese New Year.

Wishing all Gong Xi Fa Cai!!

MP zho si mi gan?

My Taxi Driver was quite grouchy today.  I boarded with my usual "Uncle nihao!"  (Uncle how are you!) and he scowled back "hao!" (good!)

hmmmmm....tread carefully now.....so I told him my destination, he engaged his gear and we're on our way.

To break the awkwardness, I asked "Uncle, are you in a hurry?"  to which he burst out "Yes, I have to go fetch my grandson from nursery class." then he went on a tirade that his son's home at Sengkang doesn't have childcare centres nearby and he had to take time off to fetch his grandson home and his wife will take care of the young boy until his son and daughter-in-law gets home from work and they would bring the young boy home after dinner.  And the cycle starts again the next day.

And I tried to say "Wow, uncle, so good right?  You get to spend time with your grandson, and your wife gets to take care of him.  In the evening the family can still get together for dinner...." but my taxi driver would not have any of it.

Instead, he went on to say "Teo Ser Luck last night say no childcare centre!  What kind of MP is that?  MP zho si mi gan?"  (what work does an MP do?  or he may be insinuating that his MP is not doing his job.)

Whatever my taxi driver wanted to say -- I tried to tell him that Teo Ser Luck would not be able to push for childcare facilities in a ward that didn't empower him (or Dr. Koh Poh Koon).  There has been promises made by the opposition candidate, so I don't think she is clueless as to what the people at Punggol East wanted.

My taxi driver didn't want to hear my point of view, and I thought -- online, there are also people who wouldn't hear the other point of view, and they are so quick to pick up on sensational headlines, but slow to spread words of truth and reason.

I believe the reason why Teo Ser Luck and Dr. Koh Poh Koon couldn't push for childcare facilities in Punggol East is because they don't have the purview because they are not elected.  However, they can still continue to help all residents through NorthEast CDC, Comcare etc.

On hindsight (now that my taxi driver has brought me to my destination), it might be seen as contentious if PAP gears up to start more kindergarten in a ward that they are not elected.  It may make more sense for a more neutral organisation such as NTUC to do that. 

It's not the money

My taxi driver took out his mobile phone as I boarded.  And after he ascertained my destination, he made a call which was picked up by an answering machine.  So for the next 15 mins I was not able to chit chat with him as the music was intermittently interrupted with "Thank you for calling XXX taxi company.  Please hold and we'll be with you shortly."


I was a little disturbed that he would allow himself to be put on hold for so long -- and extremely disturbed that this taxi company would allow one of their drivers to be kept on hold for so long. Until a chirpy voice spoke "Thank you for calling, may I have your vehicle number please."

And as I listened, I heard the driver tell the call operator his vehicle details and that a passenger had left a laptop bag with a laptop inside in his vehicle.  To keep it safe, he had actually put it in the front seat.  


It immediately struck me that our taxi drivers are so honest!  I remember a recent report that a taxi driver returned almost S$1m that was found in his vehicle.  My heart warmed up knowing that there are good taxi drivers.

As he hung up the phone I said "Uncle, I am so encouraged to know that you are an honest man."  And the driver responded "Aiyo, so troublesome you know.  After the passenger alighted and I discovered the bag, I drove back to look for her and cannot find her.  Still kenna caught in a jam.  Tomorrow go return the bag waste time some more.  Aiya, but it's the right thing to do, or she will be so worried."


A million things raced through my mind and I thought, the taxi company should reward him, compensate him for loss of earnings etc....then I realised it's not the money, it's not the rewards -- but it's the right thing to do.  And that's true honesty, without any expectations.

Thank you for the lesson today My Taxi Driver.  

And if you ever need the Lost and Found number -- it's 1800 225 5582 or if you're calling from overseas, it's +65 6225 5582.