Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Running To & Fro All Over The Island

Joining the taxi queue at Compass Point.

I had quitted my job of almost 12 years since 31 December 2008.

I've been driving taxi since 05 January 2009.

It's something which i enjoy doing. Driving people to where they need to get to.

It's not easy to make a living this way though.

It came out in the news recently that most people are taking less taxis nowadays because of the economic crunch. People are taking more of buses and MRTs instead of taxis.

It's especially tough if you have to bear the costly rental of $100 a day all alone by yourself as a hirer without any relief driver to share both the costly burden and burdensome cost.

Need to drive for at least about 5 to 6 hours on a normal weekday just to clock the $100 breakeven sum.

Going to switch to be a relief driver instead so i would only pay for $50 rental a day instead of the hefty $100.

17 Comments:

Blogger dilutedmagnetics said...

Wow! No wonder you've not been blogging for awhile.

It's great that you're doing something you enjoy, i.e., driving. I can't say the same for my own job, because I hate to admit that I like scolding people and pushing papers for a living. LOL!

Hope you have lots of business :)

Wednesday, January 21, 2009 at 8:56:00 PM GMT+8  
Blogger sOnG said...

yes..you have made the right decision. times are bad.but still looked at the bright side..cheers

Friday, January 23, 2009 at 2:15:00 PM GMT+8  
Blogger .:: JoyousJoy::. said...

haha..I realise that finding the right place to get a taxi and finding the right place to find a passenger is an art by itself...

btw, provide advance booking service!
I have got spacecab contacts and I really appreciate that coz it's so hard to get a spacecab on the roads and even calling the call-centre..

hotcakes!

Friday, January 23, 2009 at 4:51:00 PM GMT+8  
Blogger Mockingbird said...

To LIS: At least you're in a well-paid cushy job even though you may not exactly enjoy scolding people and pushing papers :)

To Song: times are bad indeed. i realise Chinese are generally less willing to spend money traveling by taxis. It's the Malays and Indians who are more willing to do so :p

To Joy: Why do you need space cabs? Do you have to ferry a dozen cats around? i thought most cabbies are generally averse to having animals sitting in their taxis :p i guess malay cabbies wouldn't mind ferrying cats around. But they definitely wouldn't want any dog sitting and salivating in their cab :p

Sunday, January 25, 2009 at 4:07:00 PM GMT+8  
Blogger Mockingbird said...

To Joy: I think it's probably very easy these days to get a cab. Because even as i drive around, i see tons of empty cabs all over the place like me, looking for customers too :p

Sunday, January 25, 2009 at 4:11:00 PM GMT+8  
Blogger dilutedmagnetics said...

Happy and Prosperous Chinese New Year Mockingbird!!

Sunday, January 25, 2009 at 10:32:00 PM GMT+8  
Blogger sOnG said...

was really surprised that other races are really helpful..you never know until you have experienced..cheers

Sunday, January 25, 2009 at 10:34:00 PM GMT+8  
Blogger .:: JoyousJoy::. said...

Need spacecabs for transporting props and ferry people of >4 you see...

Saturday, January 31, 2009 at 3:07:00 AM GMT+8  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

It's a decent job. More importantly, you enjoy what you do.

Tuesday, February 3, 2009 at 5:58:00 PM GMT+8  
Blogger Mockingbird said...

To Joy: Oh i see. Now we have the Hyundai H1 cab too. It's actually a van doubling up as a taxi. Very spacious. Let's not forget the first Mercedes Benz Maxi cab. Can easily seat 3 generations of a typical standard-sized Singaporean Chinese family.

To Rej: Thanks for the positive comment :)

Tuesday, February 3, 2009 at 9:40:00 PM GMT+8  
Blogger HappySurfer said...

I always think that cab-drivers have one of the best jobs because they only accept cash, at least that's happening here in Malaysia. What about in Sgp? Do you also accept cash only?

Great that you are doing something you like. So no more office stress, lor.

Btw, to increase biz are you also distributing your namecard so potential customers can call you? Just a thought.

Wednesday, February 4, 2009 at 6:25:00 PM GMT+8  
Blogger Mockingbird said...

To HS: In Singapore, most taxis of different cab companies only accept cash. Only for Comfort taxis, they are able to accept credit card payment and via electronic funds transfer. This is an edge which Comfort has over all other cab companies because there are people who take cabs but may not have enough cash with them so with these other modes of payment, it just makes their lives more convenient :)

Thursday, February 5, 2009 at 11:00:00 AM GMT+8  
Blogger Mockingbird said...

To HS: By the way, the non-Comfort Mercedes-Benz taxis in Singapore are also able to accept payments thru credit cards :)

Thursday, February 5, 2009 at 11:01:00 AM GMT+8  
Blogger HappySurfer said...

MB, so are you comfortably driving a Comfort taxi? hehe..

Thursday, February 5, 2009 at 1:30:00 PM GMT+8  
Blogger JOEPSC said...

I too would like to drive if not for my bad night vision and poor sense of direction!!

By the way,MB,congrats for your second bundle of joy.. hope 2009 will bring better outcome for all.

Tuesday, February 24, 2009 at 6:24:00 PM GMT+8  
Blogger seefei said...

Being a taxi driver, you see more ppl than average office joe like me. look forward to more interesting stories from you.

Monday, March 2, 2009 at 11:59:00 AM GMT+8  
Blogger PrawnKing said...

so desu ne, gambatte ne...

(so IC , work hard)

Monday, July 6, 2009 at 5:44:00 AM GMT+8  

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