Uncle, Orchard Rd. Go by PIE

Taxis. For me, there's always this 'love-hate' relationship wif them. Taxis have been around for a very long time now. I can never forget those days when taxis have a small metal, blue colored blade fan situated above the tear-away-per-day calendar. And the gear changing was done at the side of the steering wheel. But those taxis are extinct. Perhaps U can still find them at Ubin.

As a passenger, most taxi drivers are nice. However there are some talkative ones who just love to have a conversation wif u. They talk bout politics lah, soccer lah, 4D lah, complain here, complain there... anything under the sun. Eh! I wan to sleep lah! Can dun 'kacau' or not!? Haha!

I'd prefer to stay quiet on my taxi trips and the occasional giving of directions would be fine. To me, Merc drivers are the best. Perhaps it's because they had to undergo training before they could drive one of those luxury cars.

As a road user, i had my close brushes with them. Popular moves include suddenly changing directions to pick up passengers. Wah lau eh...! They can stop so suddenly right in front of you! As a result, i usually keep my distance away from them when possible. The road can be a safe place if everybody follow traffic rules and be mindful and considerate to all road users. And taxi drivers have to remember that if they have to go to court for an accident, the passengers involved in that accident cannot be a witness. Sometimes u just couldn't blame them for acting in such a way.

My dad was once a taxi driver too and he said that the wave of a passenger's hand represents money. A wave is the most looked out signal for taxi drivers. And in the process of getting one, they sometimes forgot about the safety of others. We are all humans, and psychology affects our behaviour. Dun forget, taxi drivers have to pay rental fees, petrol as well as other expenses and 'breaking even' can sometimes be hard.

My dad once said that there was this day he was driving his taxi looking around for passengers. It was basically a bad day and not many passengers could be found. After driving around for quite a while, he spotted what appears to be someone in the distance waving his hand. Only when he comes near it did he realize this 'someone' was actually the "McDonald" figurine. (u noe the one where 'he' was standing wif his hand in the air). Haha! I guess desperation results in hallucination!

Another story i heard from a taxi driver was there was this day when he picked up a transvestite. The taxi driver was kinda of the religious type. Upon reaching the destination, 'she' admitted of having no money to pay for the taxi and offered to 'blow' the driver as a form of payment... Haha!!! I guess 'she' was let off with only a sermon!

Changi anyone?