Mustafa Centre's taxi stand is a complete mess. Like a fish market. Last Saturday evening, I sent a pax to Mustafa Centre. The taxi queue for pax was very long. Along the pavement, there were many people also flagging for taxis. One man stopped me after my pax alighted and wanted to board my taxi. I refused and asked him to go queue at the taxi stand. He pleaded with me, but I simply said no.
I drove up to the taxi stand and picked up a couple who had been waiting in the queue for 45 minutes!
Did I do the right thing?
-- Edited by Taxilim on Tuesday 11th of February 2014 10:08:28 AM
-- Edited by Taxilim on Tuesday 11th of February 2014 10:09:00 AM
think i exp the same thing.. I took pax on sunday from newton after my dinner to mustafa.. once i am at taxi stand is a mess.. pple in queue, pple on roadside.. also dont know who is who? .. dunoe will pple take pic and complain me or not.. :( sigh but it was really a mess at the taxi stand
i never take pax who jumps queue. i will ask them to Q and then drive forward to pick pax from the Q.
MBS sometimes also messy on sat or sun morning. especially raining night.
For me, if it is clear that pax jump Q, i will tell them politely that there is a taxi Q. I am sure pax who had taken the time to Q (especially of they had Q'd for a long time) would appreciate. However, if it is not clear who came first (this is especially so for street pick ups) I let the pax sort it out themselves, I dont get involve la.
People are only human. And humans are also animals. Sometimes we behave more like animals than humans. If you go to an opera or high-brow concert, everyone is very well behaved. Some are naturally well-mannered people. Others just do as the romans do. Nobody in this group is brave enough to step out of line.
But the same crowd followers can become their "normal" selfs when put in a different setting. If you go to Clarke Quay say on Saturday at 5am, you can be guaranteed a chaotic crowd. The main taxi-stand will have some poor souls waiting like forever to get a taxi. And scattered all over the road, you will find people like ****roaches everywhere. They share the same space as the cars and taxis on the road. This is "normal" behaviour at that place at that time.
Little India is not as unique as you think. Geylang is even worse. Well, someone already mentioned MBS - that is as high-class as you can get.
So, when people want to get home as soon as possible, it is every man, woman and child for himself/herself. Forget about the rules.
On our part, we just have to try and be as fair as possible to those who are more civilised and bothered to stay in the Q.
Yes, lots of horror stories when the taxi stand is messy and pax are queueing all over the place. Some will just jump queue and some are from the queue but walked towards your cab.
While you are not looking, suddenly the pax is already sitting inside. This happened to me once and the LADY blocked my cab....LOL. The q-jumpers were from China and the LADY was from Vietnam. WTF. I have narrated the story in my previous posts.
My CONCLUSION....don't care or worry about it....it is not my problem to maintain order at taxi stands. My job is to queue and pick pax and if someone decides to jump queue, the rest who are at the taxi stand should tell the q-jumper off. NOT ME, as I am not sure who actually did or did not Q up in the first place. AMEN.
there was this weekend i was driving down beach road away from city direction towards army mkt..
there is this bus stop opposite Golden Mile Tower. must be some buses from malaysia arrived.. 3 groups of pax waiting along the bus lane.. this lady and her male friend flagged first.. followed by others.. naturally.. i stopped for the 1st pax that flagged.. should be the correct way right?
actually i thumb my heart.. i stopped for this aunty and uncle who flagged me.. my plan was hoping to go East.. but this 'couple' brought me to China town aft the buddha tooth relics temple then to york hill.
well.. the story is.. a taxi stopped for the pax behind me and i can hear it clearly.. the pax shouting to the uncle "can go tampines' lol!!!!~~~ drive taxi like that de...
prob if i shout tampines and i dunoe the place well.. sure jialat... staying simei here mah..
if you are not familiar with tampines or pasir ris, and still want to change shift to there, just simply explain that you have private job in that area. Change shift does not always means you are going home. lol
