As promised earlier… here’s what Alice and myself saw while on our way to town…

People, people everywhere! Where are the taxis? Ain’t the surcharges suppose to mean that there will be cabs now? Darn.

Some taxis come and go… but the queue still seems to grow. Rain, rain go away, come again another day, many people want to pay play.

Aiks! Isn’t that a taxi? No! Make it two! Oh wait, the first taxi is on call using a manual sign (because it doesn’t have one of those electronic ones that light up on the top). Hmm… but the driver is waiting for his passenger in the rain?! Duh… How about the other one behind? That’s on call too?! Gee… I didn’t know it’s common practice and sense to wait for your passengers in the rain. Guess they will just have to get themselves drenched and wet - doesn’t matter that they will be dirtying your cab. After all, you can save a few cents of petrol waiting just there. Oh, you mean you are letting your engine run idly? Bad taxi driver, badddddd taxi driver!

Finally, the taxi driver decides to move. Hmm… isn’t he supposed to be waiting for his passenger in the tain? Oh, it’s 5:00pm already! Great… now everyone can get their cabs. Oh shucks! You mean’s CBD surcharge of $3.00 and 35% surcharge on metered fare?!?!

Damn these drivers. Black sheep of the lot!

Well, the AVA had gone down to their factory to do a last inspection before business can resume at all the outlets in Singapore. Forced to close due to multiple incidences of food poisoning which was later found to be caused by Salmonella - a bacteria which can be easily transmitted by contact in food.

I had probably only gotten cakes from Prima Deli no more than 5 times, but I think I’d be off Prima Deli for a long, long time. This is partly because of the other available variety that I can get from my neighbourhood - Angie the Choice, Bengawan Solo and Secret Recipe, just to name a few. Moreover, since there’s already an incident, I’d somehow lose some confidence over their products - not in fear of another infection, but rather, in fear of being poisoned by industrial-grade detergent.

Am I exaggerating? Hey, I wished I was, but I nearly got poisoned from my own washing! Haha… thank goodness I am not working at Prima Deli… =P

THE Agri-Food & Veterinary Authority (AVA) re-inspected PrimaDeli’s factory on Monday morning following the cleaning and disinfection of its Keppel Road manufacturing centre recently.

AVA inspected the cake, pastry and bun sections and took microbiological swabs from food-contact surfaces such as table tops, utensils, racks and trays to assess the sanitary condition of the factory.

Swab samples from the surface handles of the toilet doors and doors of the preparation rooms were also taken as part of the surveillance.

The entire process took two hours.

‘The swabs will be tested for microbiological hygiene indicators and absence of salmonella to ensure that the factory has been effectively cleaned and sanitised,’ Assistant Director Corporate Communications Goh Shih Yong said.

The AVA had earlier said a total of about 75 swab samples will be taken. The swab samples will be sent to the AVA’s Veterinary Public Health Centre for microbiological tests.

The factory and its 39 retail outlets has been closed hit since it was hit by a food poisoning scandal early in December. It will remain closed until it gets the green light from the authorities to begin baking again.

Article obtained from straitstimes.com on 17 December 2007

I think it’s really very bad or inconsiderate for me to do something like this, but I think I’d probably have to start somewhere anyway. You see, I was the passenger on SHA 7820 D from Ang Mo Kio to OUB Center and after I alighted from the cab near where I wanted to go to, he decided to go on break.

4:51pm How do I know? Well, I think the meter says so - amidst other things that indicates on-call pickup, ERP and, yes, break. At first, I found it rather strange that the driver did not go to the drop off point, where I was supposed to alight from. Moreover, it was still drizzling and… which taxi driver is that inconsiderate to let their passengers get off in the rain? I thought all taxi drivers are supposed to be helpful and considerate - as painted by the taxi companies?

4:53pm After walking briskly to the shelter where the drop off point is, I noticed that was a long queue at the drop off point - all visibly waiting for a cab. Then I realised. The cab driver was waiting till 5:00pm, when he can earn an additional $3.00 surcharge for picking up passengers during peak hour. In addition, he would also have earned an additional 35% off the $3.00, which works out to be about $1.00 - a grand total of $4.00! Just for waiting for 7 minutes more! You know how much that means? If you run it just on 35% off metered fare, that means the driver would have to travel till the amount of around $12.00. Now, for no rhyme or reason, he gets an additional $4.00! Which taxi driver won’t want that?

4:59pm There were visibly at least 2 taxis with the ON-CALL sign turned on (the first one with a card sign - the manual one, while the second one has the electronic version) and another with HIRED turned on with no one insider - both ON-CALL just opposite of a taxi stand with a long queue and the HIRED one just in front of the queue (I have got totally no idea why he was HIRED and waiting there with no one insider; maybe he just alighted someone who rushed back to office to grab something? I won’t know for sure). Hmm… Disappear Taxi before CBD Surcharge Kicks In Syndrome (DiTaBCeSKiS - the "Ce" represents the Central Business District in CBD)? Hmm… it’s a case of can-see-cannot-board (thanks, Alice).

5:00pm The first ON-CALL taxi moved forward to a drop off point and spoke briefly to one of the people who are waiting there. I am not sure what the conversation was about, but the taxi driver moved off without picking him up. The second one then drove up to the same place and spoke to the same person before picking him up. Needless to say, ON-CALL subsequently became HIRED and he drove off. I am not sure if that passenger (male) paid additional for the supposed ON-CALL, but I highly doubt so - I mean, if that passenger wanted to make a call, why did he bother standing there and waiting for a cab? Moreover, I don’t think that the 2nd cab meant to be the passenger’s on-call cab because the taxi driver had been waiting there for the longest time. I mean, if you were the driver, and you have a passenger who called for a cab, will you wait for  your passenger to run in the rain to your cab? In addition, the passenger who called would have specified that he or she is waiting at the drop off/pick-up point and not in the rain.

So, what’s the morale of this observation? I think we need a staggered CBD and peak hour surcharge. Perhaps the taxi companies can consider this following fare plan:

• 4:30pm - 4:44pm: $0.50 CBD and 10% of metered fare
• 4:45pm - 4:59pm: $1.00 CBD and 20% of metered fare
• 5:00pm - 5:59pm: $2.00 CBD and 30% of metered fare
• 6:00pm - 7:59pm: $3.00 CBD and 35% of metered fare
• 8:00pm - 11:59pm: $3.00 CBD (and perhaps 40% of metered fare to cope with disappearing taxies in heartlands - courtesy of Alice again)

See? There you have it. A new fare plan to help cope with disappearing taxies before 5:00pm. I am sure a lot of people will welcome this idea - just like how we implemented the staggered surcharge for disappearing taxis before midnight.

Comments, anyone? =)

Ed: Oh ya, I have some photos to go along with this post - to be uploaded later. Thanks to Alice for bearing in the rain while I ran to the dentist for my surgery. See? I is Citizen blogger.