Laptops.........
Chair/ mat or bed... you decide:
Sprout Umbrella:
Cell phone:
Thursday, 10 January 2008
Wednesday, 9 January 2008
Hmm....was it a surprise?
Motorists to face five new ERP gantriesThey are mainly in the heart of residential areas.
By Christopher Tan
MOTORISTS can expect to pay more over the next few months to use the roads when five new ERP gantries are up, many in the heart of residential areas.
The gantries are in Upper Bukit Timah Road (outside Hume Park), Toa Payoh Lorong 6, Upper Boon Keng Road, Kallang Bahru Road and Geylang Bahru Road.
All except the ones in Toa Payoh Lorong 6 and Geylang Bahru Road have been completed.
The Land Transport Authority has not announced when these new gantries will be switched on, but already residents are concerned why their neighbourhoods are targetted.
Commenting on the gantry outside Hume Park, Bukit Timah resident Mr Burven Lee, 43, said: 'The road here does get jammed up. But will a gantry solve the problem?'
'My feeling is that it will just redistribute traffic around,' the director of a statutory board added.
Toa Payoh resident 68-year-old retiree Tony Chan wanted to know why the gantry at Toa Payoh Lorong 6 is sited near the entrance to the residential area.
The LTA spokesman explained that the location of the gantry is unlikely to affect residents as it charges motorists entering into Toa Payoh from Braddell Road who add on to the traffic in the area.
He added that if gantries were at exit points, more Toa Payoh residents would be affected. Also it would plug a gap in series of gantries forming an outer cordon around the city.
The new gantries are part of the LTA's plans to have an 'outer cordon' to control traffic going into the city.
Tuesday, 8 January 2008
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Monday, 7 January 2008
This is getting interesting :)
I guess the next thing for cabs could be 'Tipping' System???
From motoring.asiaone.com
'Hey...want to take cab? No surcharge for peak hours'
AS MR A.L. Tan's cab comes into sight, an A4-size handwritten sign on his dashboard is what a potential passenger will see first.
'Not 35% surcharge peak hour', it says.
He has resorted to waiving the surcharge after last month's cab fare hike.
'I used to make up to $130 during peak hours,' said the cabby of 15 years in Mandarin. 'Then the customers were scared off and I couldn't even make $10!'
Cabbies complain that passengers are disappearing during morning and evening rush hours. What used to be a $2 flat surcharge for travelling between 7am and 9.30am, or 5pm and 8pm, is now calculated as 35 per cent of the metered fare.
A passenger travelling from Ang Mo Kio MRT station to Choa Chu Kang's Lot 1 Shopping Centre pays about $14 outside peak periods. Slap on the surcharge during peak hours and the fare is now $19.
Although cab companies are optimistic that the recent fare changes will raise drivers' incomes, cabbies themselves are not so sanguine.
Most of the 20 cabbies The Sunday Times spoke to say that passengers are more receptive to the 30-cent higher flag-down fare, but baulk at paying the peak-hour surcharge.
Of the 10 passengers The Sunday Times spoke to, seven said they now avoid taking cabs whenever possible, especially during peak hours. The others said that they still take a cab at least once a day.
Property agent A.C. Yeo, 54, said she now takes the train to work instead. A cab ride from her Bishan flat to her office in Toa Payoh used to cost her $6.50 during peak hours. Now, it has gone up to about $8.
To encourage more passengers to catch taxis during peak hours, some cabbies such as Transcab's Mr Tan have come up with their own strategies.
Comfort cabby B.P. Pang, 52, is giving out discounts together with his business card in the hope of increasing his passenger base.
For a $27.40 trip from Tampines to Cecil Street, including peak-hour and Electronic Road Pricing surcharges, Mr Pang charges his passenger $21, giving him a 23 per cent discount.
He usually gives discounts only to customers whose fares exceed $20, in the hope that they will call for his cab in future.
'I used to get at least six customers during peak hours, now I don't even get two,' said the cabby of three years in Mandarin.
Comfort cabby Jack Ng, 47, admits to touting at bus stops for potential passengers. Down goes his windscreen as he drives by and yells out: 'Taxi, taxi, no surcharge.'
He said in Mandarin: 'Many people have turned to buses and trains since the fare hike. So I try my luck at bus stops and tempt them with my cheaper fare, without the surcharge.'
Even with his new tactic, Mr Ng says he takes home about $80 a day, a 30 per cent dip from before. But he is optimistic that business will pick up as more customers are asking for his phone number and calling him when they need rides.
Sales manager Maria Woo, 35, for example, has become Mr Ng's regular passenger, ringing him for a ride during peak hours. She takes a cab at least five times a day for business meetings.
'He doesn't charge me the 35 per cent and the on-call charges, saving me up to $65 a week!' she said.
Asked if it was legitimate for cabbies to offer customers discounts, a spokesman for Comfort, Singapore's largest taxi operator, said that cabbies are essentially their own businessmen.
She added: 'It is their prerogative to give discounts to their customers should they so desire.'
While some cabbies are fighting the passenger drought, others are using the lax period to take longer breaks at coffee shops.
SMRT cabby S.K. Tang, 50, said: 'Driving around looking for passengers is just costing me more diesel.'
Comfort cabby D. Ghing, 60, said cabbies are now trying to 'out-drive' each other for passengers.
'Customers are like Hollywood stars now - one passenger flags, four cabs will zoom in,' said the cabby of 25 years. 'It's a dog-eat-dog world here.'
From motoring.asiaone.com
'Hey...want to take cab? No surcharge for peak hours'
AS MR A.L. Tan's cab comes into sight, an A4-size handwritten sign on his dashboard is what a potential passenger will see first.
'Not 35% surcharge peak hour', it says.
He has resorted to waiving the surcharge after last month's cab fare hike.
'I used to make up to $130 during peak hours,' said the cabby of 15 years in Mandarin. 'Then the customers were scared off and I couldn't even make $10!'
Cabbies complain that passengers are disappearing during morning and evening rush hours. What used to be a $2 flat surcharge for travelling between 7am and 9.30am, or 5pm and 8pm, is now calculated as 35 per cent of the metered fare.
A passenger travelling from Ang Mo Kio MRT station to Choa Chu Kang's Lot 1 Shopping Centre pays about $14 outside peak periods. Slap on the surcharge during peak hours and the fare is now $19.
Although cab companies are optimistic that the recent fare changes will raise drivers' incomes, cabbies themselves are not so sanguine.
Most of the 20 cabbies The Sunday Times spoke to say that passengers are more receptive to the 30-cent higher flag-down fare, but baulk at paying the peak-hour surcharge.
Of the 10 passengers The Sunday Times spoke to, seven said they now avoid taking cabs whenever possible, especially during peak hours. The others said that they still take a cab at least once a day.
Property agent A.C. Yeo, 54, said she now takes the train to work instead. A cab ride from her Bishan flat to her office in Toa Payoh used to cost her $6.50 during peak hours. Now, it has gone up to about $8.
To encourage more passengers to catch taxis during peak hours, some cabbies such as Transcab's Mr Tan have come up with their own strategies.
Comfort cabby B.P. Pang, 52, is giving out discounts together with his business card in the hope of increasing his passenger base.
For a $27.40 trip from Tampines to Cecil Street, including peak-hour and Electronic Road Pricing surcharges, Mr Pang charges his passenger $21, giving him a 23 per cent discount.
He usually gives discounts only to customers whose fares exceed $20, in the hope that they will call for his cab in future.
'I used to get at least six customers during peak hours, now I don't even get two,' said the cabby of three years in Mandarin.
Comfort cabby Jack Ng, 47, admits to touting at bus stops for potential passengers. Down goes his windscreen as he drives by and yells out: 'Taxi, taxi, no surcharge.'
He said in Mandarin: 'Many people have turned to buses and trains since the fare hike. So I try my luck at bus stops and tempt them with my cheaper fare, without the surcharge.'
Even with his new tactic, Mr Ng says he takes home about $80 a day, a 30 per cent dip from before. But he is optimistic that business will pick up as more customers are asking for his phone number and calling him when they need rides.
Sales manager Maria Woo, 35, for example, has become Mr Ng's regular passenger, ringing him for a ride during peak hours. She takes a cab at least five times a day for business meetings.
'He doesn't charge me the 35 per cent and the on-call charges, saving me up to $65 a week!' she said.
Asked if it was legitimate for cabbies to offer customers discounts, a spokesman for Comfort, Singapore's largest taxi operator, said that cabbies are essentially their own businessmen.
She added: 'It is their prerogative to give discounts to their customers should they so desire.'
While some cabbies are fighting the passenger drought, others are using the lax period to take longer breaks at coffee shops.
SMRT cabby S.K. Tang, 50, said: 'Driving around looking for passengers is just costing me more diesel.'
Comfort cabby D. Ghing, 60, said cabbies are now trying to 'out-drive' each other for passengers.
'Customers are like Hollywood stars now - one passenger flags, four cabs will zoom in,' said the cabby of 25 years. 'It's a dog-eat-dog world here.'
Wednesday, 2 January 2008
First post for 2008
This is the first piece of news that caught my attention in 2008 from channelnewsasia.comS'porean artist on 5-day fast to protest Hindraf 5 detention
SINGAPORE: As scores of Singaporeans greeted the New Year with feasting and revelry, one was marking it by beginning a five-day fast outside the Malaysian High Commission here.
In a statement to the media, local artist and activist Seelan Palay, 23, said he was fasting in his "personal capacity" to call for world pressure to be brought on the Malaysian government to release five Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf) leaders, known as "Hindraf 5".
They have been detained in Kuala Lumpur since Dec 13 under Malaysia's Internal Security Act.
"Each day of my fast is in dedication to each of the five detainees," the activist said in his statement, which has been reproduced on several blogs.
Mr Palay, who plans to ingest nothing but water until Friday 9am, is no stranger to controversy. He was arrested during the International Monetary Fund and World Bank meetings here in 2006 for trying to distribute a fact sheet.
When TODAY dropped by on Tuesday, Mr Palay was seated on a stool under a tree opposite the entrance to the High Commission. Looking a little tired but in good spirits, he said he had been moved to act when he witnessed firsthand the protests in Kuala Lumpur. He was filming the rallies on Nov 25.
He said he would try to hand his statement to the Malaysian High Commissioner today. On Monday, the High Commission staff had taken photos and a video of him, he said.
"The police asked me for a permit, warned me and told me to disperse. But I am only fasting, why should I need a permit? They said it was under some public entertainment licensing law, and I said I was not here to entertain anyone," said Mr Palay.
The police told TODAY that it was looking into the matter.
Mr Palay said news of his actions has reached some Malaysians, who visited or called him. Singapore Democratic Party assistant secretary-general John Tan, too, paid Mr Palay a visit. When asked, Mr Tan said he was there to "offer support" and "keep (Mr Palay) company".
More on Seelan Palay's Hunger Strike:
http://www.singaporeindianvoice.blogspot.com/
http://raajarox.com/?p=225
http://vickn3s.blogspot.com/2008/01/seelan-palay-hunger-strike-at-malaysian.html
http://pseudonymity.wordpress.com/
http://www.sgpolitics.net/?p=42
http://ping.sg/item/VIDEOS_First_Day_Of_Singaporean_Activist_s_Hunger_Strike
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