Have you ever run late for school or work in the morning and find that every single taxi is hired when you were desperately looking for one? I did. So often that I decided to find out who the culprits are, for the good of all the taxi-deprived people out there. And the truth may surprise you.
So one morning while I was on the bus (no cabs again), I took a deliberate observation of the passengers in taxis on the road. And this was my initial finding: 9 out of 10 cabs had a solo female passenger on board.
Telling myself that it must be a coincidence, I conducted a second round of observation and got almost similar results: 8 out of 10 cabs had a solo female passenger on board.
This made it an astonishing 17 out 20 taxis I observed having a solo female passenger on board. My prejudice against females was at an all time high at that moment (but it didn’t last long as I love women too much). My secondary observation was that every female passenger whom I saw in the taxis was young (18 – 25) and they were dressed decently and looked to have make-up on (Based on my expert judgment of women)
These findings led me to my following casual hypotheses:
- Young women in Singapore are generally less punctual than men, thus resorting to taking taxis.
- Young women in Singapore spend more time preparing themselves (e.g. make-up), causing them to run late, thus resorting to taking taxis.
- Young women in Singapore tend to have poor time management/estimation.
- Young women in Singapore tend to be less tolerant of taking public transport (bus/train).
- The biggest group of non-drivers is young women.
*Young women = 18-25 years
I have a few female friends whom I knew are frequent taxi riders in the morning. So I asked them for their reasons/motivations in taking taxis.
One of them said, “Lazy to take bus, so take cab loh. Somemore don’t need to squeeze with those aunties and uncles,” while another said, “Sometimes wake up late so no choice got to take cab.”
Now, before you start throwing stones at young women (Especially when you are looking for a taxi), please be reminded that these observations and hypotheses are purely based on a one-off observation and may not be entirely accurate and true after all. To strengthen it or to prove their innocence, it would be good to conduct your own observations.
On the more general side of life, there seem to be this phenomenon about taxis in Singapore that I am sure Singaporeans would passionately testify to – When You Want a Cab, There Are None. But When You Don’t, There Are Tons.
Being an avid taxi rider myself, it is something that baffles and frustrates me all the time. It got so bad that I used to pretend I’m not looking for a taxi, hoping that it will change my ‘luck’. I know that’s embarrassing and a little extreme but I am pretty sure I am not alone. I hope.
On the serious note, I believe there are simply not enough taxis to meet the demands of Singaporeans, especially during the morning peak hours. Or are Singaporeans simply too dependent on taxis? What are your views?
