When we were totally late for our appointments, we know that the taxi is the ultimate solution out of the situation and when we worked very late into the night, we turn to the taxi as the fastest way to bring us home. Taxis have become a part of our lives that we just cannot live without it.

We know of the charges we have to fork out when we board the taxi. The price schedule is pasted on the windows. So, as passengers, we cannot claim to be unaware of our obligations.

Yet, no one really knows the service obligations of a taxi driver.  There is no service charter ever published or made known to the passengers at the time they board the vehicle, and this is problematic. This demonstrated either the ignorance of the passengers or the monopolistic nature of taxi industry in Singapore.

Due to this lack of transparency, we are disadvantaged. We have no idea the kind of service a driver should provide as taxi fares rises.

Is the driver obliged to:

·       Plan the route for his passenger or is it the responsibility of the passenger to tell the driver which road to use?

·       Help the passenger with his luggage or the passenger has to manage them himself?

·       Pick the passenger who flagged for his taxi or choose the passenger he likes?

·       Contact the passenger for directions when he could not find the pick-up point or just drive off when things become a challenge?

·       Contact the passenger when he is going to be late or just let the passenger wait for him?

·       Go an extra mile to complete the trip when he is lost or leave it to the passenger to flip through the road directory and contact his friends to help the driver?

·       Force the passenger out of his taxi when there is a disagreement or understand he is driving a business and that his passenger is his client so he needs to know how to manage his own ego?

·       Drive his passenger to where he needs to be even it means the driver needs to detour several times to pick up other things or he could just refuse the passenger?

·       Force his passenger to pay a deposit if the passenger needs leave the taxi to pick something up or trust the passenger to be responsible?

·       Call in the police because the passenger refused to pay for failed service or alert his taxi company to let his company’s customer service officers to work with the passenger?

Without the clarity in the service obligations of the taxi driver, passengers will continue to be roughly treated.