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S’pore Taxi Driver Shares His Experience With a Fare Evader Along With Some Wise Words

2019-01-11 , 2:04 pm

It’s tough being a taxi driver on the road. On one hand, you have to sit on your ass for long hours with only the occasional toilet break, and as readers of Crayon Shin-Chan would attest to that’s like a one-way ticket to free Hemorrhoids.

And then, on the other hand, you gotta deal with all the miscellaneous stuff yourself. Rental expenses? Your own taiji. CPF? Bo taiji.

Indeed, being a taxi driver is a pretty arduous job. Not as bad as being a firefighter or Peter Parker, obviously, but I reckon it’s pretty close.

But once in a while, being a taxi driver can be the worst job in the world. Having to deal with completely unreasonable passengers is one of them.

And encountering fare evaders is another.

Just ask 36-year-old Stomper Sanchez, who waited thirty whole minutes for his passenger to turn up with the payment. And the end result?

A total blank.

What happened?

According to Stomp, Sanchez, who has been a ComfortDelGro cabby for nearing five years, said he had undertaken a $26 booking from Block 180C Riverdale Crescent to Block 419 Clementi Avenue 1 on Monday (7 Jan). Thereafter, he picked up the passenger at 10:48 a.m., and reached his destination at 11:23 a.m.

“When we arrived, the passenger asked if he could go upstairs to his house to get money for the ride,” Sanchez told Stomp. “He said he was 19 years old and had lost his wallet.”

“As I pitied him, I told him that it was okay if he didn’t have the money now and to call me when he did. But he said no and insisted that he had the money, and gave stories like how it was upstairs.

“I had a feeling that he would not come back, so I told him to just say so if he didn’t have money. I didn’t want to waste time waiting in vain so I asked him to just tell me the truth.

“However, he told me not to worry and said he would come back. So, I waited for him.”

But Sanchez’s intuition proved correct. After waiting for 30 minutes, during which he smoked two whole cigarettes, the passenger had yet to show up.

“I smoked two cigarettes while waiting for him for nearly 30 minutes. When it was almost 12pm, he still did not come down.

“That was when I realised that he was not returning.”

His first time

Apparently, this was the first time Sanchez encountered a fare evade, and he hoped to help other cabbies out by sharing his story.

“It’s not about the money as I can earn it back. Furthermore, ComfortDelGro offered to pay me the $26,” said Sanchez, who works from 4am to 6pm seven days a week.

“But the thing is, I am scared for other drivers who are working hard for their families. I don’t want this to happen to them, which is why I want to share it.

“My wife is pregnant with twins and I have no CPF, so many things have to be paid in cash.

“I’m working so hard for my family and this is what I get.

“Very hard ah, life, driving taxi.”