12/20/2007

I nominate Lawrence Lee Liang Wei

I nominate Lawrence Lee to sit in the Board of LTA. He wrote a letter to the ST forum supporting the taxi fares hike, like I do. He also agrees that we should not begrude taxi drivers the right to earn a good living. He quoted his LA trip which cost him US$105 for a 15 min trip and $22 in Hongkong for a 10 min trip. He also said that we should compare with comparable countries and not against third world countries or we will be biased. And looking at the responses in the media, most of the taxi users are not too perturbed by the recent hike. They are only angry because it does not improve the availability of taxis. So my proposal of a $10 flag down fare is still an excellent suggestion. With that they can do away with the call surcharge as this is nonsensical. Taxi drivers save petrol by parking somewhere waiting for calls and then collect extra charges. Just give them the $10 upfront and they will be scrambling for passengers.

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