The Taxi Story - You Are Not Alone

Cabbies live from hand to mouth
With reference to the letter "Cabbies have a hard time making a living," (Sunday Star, April 11), the writer was spot on that the average income of taxi drivers range from RM1,500 to RM1,800 per month.
  In my presentation to the Malaysian Productivity Corporation in 2008, I have worked out that their average income range from RM1,117 for those working 24 days a month to RM1,717 for those working everyday.
  Since then, there has been an increase in metre rates for budget taxis by 32% for distance travelled and 114% for time clocked.
  The numbers of taxis on the road has also gone up after the fare increase in August 2009.
  I have been driving a taxi since June 2000 and will not recommend anyone who wishes to raise a family to choose it as their livelihood.
  In London, black cab drivers earn between RM42,000 and RM56,000 a month.
  A Finnish taxi driver who was one of my passengers only has to work for 6 months and can afford to travel the rest of the year.
  Malaysian taxi drivers virtually live from hand to mouth and is best described by a Malay proverb "Kais pagi makan pagi, kais petang makan petang".
  Taxi drivers tend to splurge during good months instead of saving for rainy days.
  They suffer a double whammy when they have to pay a major mechanical or accident repairs coupled with the loss of income.
  As such, they are easy prey for loan sharks.
  Once they fall behind in payments for rental purchase to the taxi company or hire purchase to the bank and with Ah Longs breathing down their necks, their struggle for survival will unfortunately be at the expense of the unlucky passengers.
  However, it is still wrong to lump all taxi drivers in the same boat, as the public tend to treat them, including the honest ones, with scorn.
  Caring passengers like the writer from Penang can induce them to provide a better service.
  One of the reasons why enforcement of errant taxi drivers has not been effective seems from the fact that CVLB paints all taxi drivers with the same stroke.
  The CVLB director was reported to have said "If they are budak baik (good boys), we don't need to come up with the sticker rules".
  They should instead target the unscrupulous drivers who are like touts who park their taxis by the roadside at popular areas such as KLCC in Kuala Lumpur.
  Some taxi drivers who station their cars near nightspots are opportunistic pimps.
  Used to earn easy money, they also tend to fix the fare at several times more than the rate to rip off passengers.
  CVLB does not have to take measures against all the 31,000 taxi drivers.
  Their 100 enforcement officers are more than sufficient to catch the hard cores operating in full view of the public.
  Publicising specific actions taken against errant taxi drivers through various newspapers will be an effective deterrent for the rest of the cabbies to fall in line.

YS CHAN,
Kuala Lumpur               

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This writing in views section of 'Star' newspaper last Tuesday 13th, really caught my attention.

Having many neighbours and family friends who are taxi drivers, his views are the general cabbies' grouses and their wives' woes. There's never enough to feed their families even with the men driving 18 hours a day all year round.
I've yet to meet a cabbie who entitled himself a day off on a weekly basis.

Mr YS Chan, with his 10 years experience as a taxi driver, wrote his working journeys well and me, who's depending on taxis for more than 20 years journey in JB town, will classify him as the few rare drivers who can elevate the profession to the next level.
I've came across few drivers, who admitted being degree holders with no job opportunity after years of applying.
Reading YS Chan's writing reminds me of a  Singapore scientist from China  turned taxi-driver, and I did read in Singapore's Straits Times, many years back, about a pilot turned taxi-driver too.

Not all cabbies are  'unscrupulous drivers'  and not all passengers treat cabbies as 'scorns'.
Cabbies are humans with  feelings  too, topped with their unfair share of problems and 'struggle for survival'. Some of them just need 'ears' for them to be understood.
If they are heard, if the general drivers' views are seen, if the authority do not see them as collective, then the public's collective perception of seeing cabbies as opportunists will vanish as most taxi drivers just want to earn the 'honest RM by providing their best service'.