Hey, I am back again. Just finished my shift duty today (26 Nov'06) at noon.
One thing about driving along Orchard Road towards the direction of Suntec City and also from ECP towards Suntec City at night. Avoid it at all cost. I lost nearly 2 hours of potential income in the heavy traffic. Now I understand why other cab drivers complained about traffic jam. Imagine being stuck in a jam for about 30 minutes for each trip. Although the fare meter still record a 10 cents jump for every 25 seconds, the extra cost is only $7.70 to the passenger, but to the cab driver it could be a potential income of $15 to $20 over that period of time. I really felt miserable about it but I guess this is part and parcel of cab driving.

Anyway, cab drivers shouldn't complain in the presence of the passengers and rightly so as the traffic conditions is not created by them but rather because Christmas is near. Funny that it seems nearer than it actually was this time round. We are still a month away from it and look at the crowd, God.

Yesterday night (25 Nov'06), the traffic was crawling along Scotts Road when I received a current booking to pick up a passenger at Far East Plaza. Though I was only about 2 minutes away, I declined to take the booking because I am not sure if I can reach the pick up point within 12 minutes due to the jam. I was issued a warning for not taking the booking. In our GP4 system, we can choose to respond to the booking to arrive in 5, 7, 10 & 12 minutes. It's ok for me as I don't want to receive a complaint from the passenger for showing up late and I am actually heading towards that direction. I simply wasn't confident of reaching the place in the above stipulated time frames due to the traffic condition.

I later sent a sms to my good friend, my hirer (I am not suppose to disclose his name without his permission. Some of you may know him but I will still keep his name anonymous), about the traffic condition and to avoid it at all cost, particularly, along Orchard Road and Rochor Road leading to Suntec City and especially on Friday and Saturday nights.

Oh yes, there is something I want to update before calling it a night. I was driving along Orchard Boulevard on Saturday night when I decided to stop along the roadside just behind Wheelock's Place to record the last fare in my little book when a Malay couple came and board my cab. Wow, the lady was wearing quite a low cut dress as I can see her before she board my cab. Once in my cab, I was told to go to 2 places, Tanglin Halt and Ang Mo Kio Ave 5 by the guy. It was only when the couple started talking that I realised that the lady was in fact a transvestite. And the guy was calling "her" kakak (elder sister in Malay). But they are nice people to talk with and not at all snobbish. In fact, they are quite well mannered when they talk to me about my works in general, like what time I start and finish work.

They were shock to hear I am on 48 hours shift rotation and ask how I can manage to stay awake for 48 hours. Of course, we don't literally drive 48 hours. Normally, I would finish my night driving at about 11.30pm on weekdays and about 1.30am on Friday and Saturday nights. Wake up time is about 6.00am and start driving at about 6.45am everyday unless I have advance booking the night before. I have learnt an important lesson, and that is not to take bookings early in the morning, like I did last Saturday night for a Sunday pick up at 2.45am near Choa Chu Kang for the airport. That night, I dared not go back home to sleep because of the comfort at home. So I did the next best thing many cab drivers do, sleep in the cab. After the trip, I picked another passenger from the airport but not after waiting for 2 hours at Terminal 2.

Another lesson I learnt from fellow cab drivers. Never queue at Terminal 2 between 1.30am to 5.15am. There are no flights coming in at this unearthly hours. Terminal 1 should be the place to go. Okay, lesson learnt.

Well, it's now 2am and I am not suppose to stay up this late at home. I should be resting and sleeping and that's what I am going to do.

Goodnight & cheers.
fred