Apparently, taxi drivers are earning the big bucks now. Since the fare hike in December, taxi drivers are raking in daily earnings of $318. It was not mentioned if that’s before paying for rental, but I’d presume so. Assuming a typical rental rate of about $96, a full diesel tank of about $40 and miscellaneous stuffs at $12, that’s about $148 off for expenses, which means the daily earnings is about $170. If the taxi driver works for 31 days in a month, his earnings is about S$5270. If his rental is only S$70 per day, we are looking at S$6076 per month! That’s a lot of money! And it’s nett earnings! (Ed: Do taxi drivers pay for their own CPF?)

Gosh! What I am doing in school?! Shouldn’t I be out there earning my $5k per month? By the way, I wonder if the tax man did his homework? We are looking at a potential annual income of about S$60,000. Are the taxi driers declaring their taxes correctly?

Or wait! Was there something wrong with the report or did someone sabo our minister?

THE recent taxi fare hike may have just put a lid on a cab crunch which was threatening to boil over.

If preliminary findings are anything to go by, Transport Minister Raymond Lim said the fare revision last month was ‘effective’ in meeting the increasing demand of taxis in the Central Business District (CBD).

Based on figures taken four weeks after the Dec 18 fare hike, Mr Lim said waiting times in the city area during peak hours have ‘gone down substantially’.

Mr Lim revealed that commuters in the city only have to wait for up to 6 minutes for a cab, significantly less than the 5 to 22 minutes before the fare hike.

Waiting times at the Suntec City taxi stands - said to be the worst performing of the lot - have been cut drastically from 22 minutes to 4 minutes.

While some cabbies have complained that passengers are not flagging taxis, Mr Lim said their earnings have however gone up.

Based on figures provided by ComfortDelGro, Singapore’s biggest taxi operator, cabbies are pocketing about $11 more a day, earning about $318.

Mr Lim was responding to questions from MP for Tampines GRC Ms Irene Ng and MP for Tanjong Pagar GRC Mr Baey Yam Keng in Parliament.

Mr Lim also allayed Ms Ng’s fears, saying that the extra surcharges for cabs plying the city areas would not pinch the supply in the suburbs.

The Transport Minister assured the House that the Land Transport Authority would continue to monitor the situation over the next 3 to 4 months and work with taxi operators and associations.

Article obtained from straitstimes.com on 22nd January 2008

As mentioned in my previous post, through trains are the in thing today. Now, it’s gone international as well. According to the Malaysia Immigration, there is no necessity for travellers going through the Woodlands or Tuas check point to fill in the familiar white immigration card - effectively increasing the speed of processing the passport. However, this is a trial and it’s been kicked in quietly, to the extent that many Singaporeans are taken aback when they learnt of it.

This is understandable because Singaporeans have had their fair share of fright of not having their passports stamped and being charged and jailed in Malaysia for these immigration offences. While this is no joking matter, I found it a little funny at the follow part of the report that went:

Ms Hung, who left for Kuala Lumpur on Sunday, said: ‘Sunday was the first time I was told that the Customs do not need the white immigration cards anymore. I came prepared with it but the Customs officer just said ‘no need’ and pointed to a Malay notice which I could not understand.’

Hmm… I am not sure about this, but why would the sign be in Malay? How about people from other countries who enter Malaysia through Singapore? Hmm… anyway, to give them the benefit of the doubt, I presume that there are signs on other languages elsewhere =P

For me, I’d still fill up my immigration cards =)

SINGAPOREANS no longer have to fill in the immigration card when entering Malaysia from Johor - but regular travellers are keeping the white arrival card handy, just in case.

They will have their passports stamped by Malaysian immigration authorities at the Causeway checkpoint and the Second Link bridge at Tanjong Kupang.

That is good enough as proof of entry, said an immigration spokesman at the Malaysian High Commission on Tuesday.

The new move stems from trials of a new visitor screening system which kicked in quietly last Saturday.

The new procedure does away with tens of thousands of the cards Malaysian immigration officials process daily.

Each card measures 8cms by 13cms when folded.

During the trial, passports of foreigners will be scanned electronically to retrieve information such as the passport holder’s name, identity, and passport validity.

‘Our system will key in their particulars based on the information in their passports,’ the spokesman said.

He added that the trial may be extended to other points of entry, for example, Kuala Lumpur International Airport later.

The surpise move at Johor caught some travellers off guard over the weekend. The no-notice trial saw some travellers confused over what they should do with their immigration cards.

Ms Hung Meiling, 23, a marketing communications executive, was one of them.

Ms Hung, who left for Kuala Lumpur on Sunday, said: ‘Sunday was the first time I was told that the Customs do not need the white immigration cards anymore. I came prepared with it but the Customs officer just said ‘no need’ and pointed to a Malay notice which I could not understand.’

‘I think this will make things more convenient. It does away with the hassle of filling in the cards beforehand and panicking when I realise that I don’t have the card. It’s also a pain to have to keep extra cards just in case.’

Some 250,000 people enter Malaysia via the Causeway daily, while some 30,000 people use the Second Link.

About half of these are non-Malaysians who have to fill in the two-sided immigration cards until the latest change.

These capture information such as the person’s passport details, address in Malaysia plus a currency and health quarantine declatration.

Another frequent visitor, Mr Sebastian Lim, 35, who was in Johor last weekend, welcomed the move as he no longer have to keep a stash of immigration cards.

Mr Lim visits his in-laws in Johor weekly and to shop for groceries.

He keeps four such cards in his car and has another 20 stashed at home.

While Mr Lim knows the cards are not needed, he is holding on to his for the time being.

He said:’I'm keeping the cards to play it safe. I don’t want to be caught in a tricky situation if these cards are needed again.’

Article obtained from straitstimes.com on 22nd January 2008

A total of $990 million were received as from the 2% hike in GST in 2007, while the government has returned $640 million to Singaporeans as a form of GST rebate. I remembered that the increase in GST was meant to help the poor, although I am not quite sure how that is going to happen. However, I guess the worst hit is always the "sandwich" class - which pays tax like everyone else but get no assistance or minimal rebates. Sigh.

THE Government earned an extra $990 million last year from the two-percentage point hike in Goods and Services tax.

The bulk, $540 million, came from local consumer spending, while the remainder was from foreigners.

A large portion of the collection went back to Singaporeans.

They received a total of $630 million in cash, to offset the GST increase to 7 per cent in July 2007.

With other measures like utility rebates, to help people adjust to paying more GST, the Government will spend $1.17 billion by the end of fiscal year 2007 on Mar 31 this year.

Read the full story in Wednesday’s edition of The Straits

Article obtained from straitstimes.com on 22nd January 2008

Scandals happen when incomplete information leaks or is misinterpreted by 1 or more receiving party. I nearly became the victim of one such scandal when I mentioned to Ridzuan that I won’t be free on Friday and Saturday as I would be meeting Paddy on Friday and having a dinner appointment on Saturday. Now, for some reasons, Ridzuan thinks that I am paktor’ing Paddy!!! How scandalous can that be?!?! That was of course before he realised that I was supposed to collect my iPod classic that I won (thanks to all my readers and supporters!). So here’s the transcript of how it went:

Ridzuan says (3:47 PM):
haha…well it’s either that or you’re becoming some star blogger for blog2u….or you’re paktor-ing him….hahaha
Simply Jean says (3:47 PM):
that’s scandalous!!!
Ridzuan says (3:47 PM):
hahaha yeah!
okok…i shall add to the useless content in the local blogosphere
haha
Ridzuan says (3:48 PM):
make izel jealous
hehe
Simply Jean says (3:48 PM):
pls lor
scandals(-monger)!
Ridzuan says (3:48 PM):
haha
Ridzuan says (3:55 PM):
oooh! you going to take your ipod ah?

Of course, if it ended just there, then he’d have just created "unless content in the local blogosphere". However, here’s where the other part begins:

Ridzuan says (3:56 PM):
j/k-ing la
was just messing with her…thought she’s building paddy’s new site also
Simply Jean says (3:56 PM):
who are you messing with??
Ridzuan says (3:58 PM):
oops
shit

Yes. The moment of realization that you have replied to the wrong window. I wonder how often that happens. =) And oh… then the tables turn:

Ridzuan says (3:58 PM):
wrong screen!
hahahha
Ridzuan says (3:59 PM):
oh no
Simply Jean says (3:59 PM):
that’s it
u messing with the wrong person…
Ridzuan says (3:59 PM):
aahhh!! now i’m going to plastered on her blog with a price on my head!
die liao la
Simply Jean says (3:59 PM):
btw… u do know that this will be hitting the big screens… dun u?
Ridzuan says (3:59 PM):
haha
eh don’t like that la… =(

Really… the feeling of seeing people hit realization… is priceless.

Of course, everything else, there’s Mastercard. =)