Why did The Star not publish my letter?

As long term readers will know, I have had quite a few letters published in Malaysian newspapers. I have raised many issues in their pages, usually on various social issues, of some kind. A few weeks ago, I sent The Star (of Malaysia), the letter below. It was never published. The question is: why? The contents are socially helpful and would, if acted on, change Malaysia, for the better. Yet, someone, at The Star, preferred silence on the issue. The letter follows:

Malaysian taxi drivers lack road knowledge.

In London, licensed taxi drivers have to pass a special exam, called The Knowledge. This involves learning 320 routes through London and the location of every single landmark and place of interest within a six mile radius of Charing Cross. A London Black Cab driver never gets lost, never fails to know the way and gets the customer to their destination every time. Malaysian drivers, however, are a rather different breed. Many of them seem to have no knowledge of Kuala Lumpur at all.

Recently, I have become accustomed to taxi drivers not being able to find their way, to a well known location, in Kuala Lumpur – even if they are parked only a couple of kilometres away. I sometimes have to ask four or five drivers, before I can find one who knows the way, even though the road I am asking them to go to, is a main one. It seems that people are starting to drive cabs, without any detailed knowledge of Kuala Lumpur’s roads. This should simply not be allowed.

Sometimes, drivers pretend to know where somewhere is, just to get the fare. However, part way into the journey, it becomes clear that the driver is lost and has no clue where to go. How can this be called a “taxi service”? If Malaysia is ever to be considered a developed country, it must have a developed transport system – and taxis are part of that.

The solution is simple. Taxi drivers in Malaysia, should have to learn, in detail, every road, every route, every landmark and place of interest, in the bounds of the city or area in which they are licensed, before they are ever allowed to drive a cab. Furthermore, if a cab driver gets lost – or pretends to be lost – they should have no right to charge the customer, for the unaccountably long journey. Were these suggestions to be implemented, Malaysia would finally have a taxi service that meets the customers’ needs. Incidentally, it would also leave a much better impression on foreign visitors, who, at present, can only conclude that there is something incompetent about Malaysia’s taxi services. Is that the impression Malaysia wants to give, to the world?

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Short term greed, long term loss.

The past couple of days have been instructive. I have seen the same type of thinking on two separate occasions, from taxi drivers. It is a curious type of thinking because though both spoke in terms of planning for the future, they exhibited short term thinking as an over-riding priority.

Yesterday, I took a cab home. The driver was a smartly presented Indian man. He was also very talkative. I didn't mind this, so much, since I had been waiting a long time for a taxi. This is a common experience in parts of KL where cabs are more noted by their absence, than their presence. Like much of the transport infrastructure here, in this capital city, there just isn't enough of it to go around.

Anyway, this driver started complaining to me about how, in the last month, 37 of his "regulars" had been lost. He said it was because they were expats whose contracts were up, so they had to go home. He then went on to tell me a tale of how one regular client had gone overseas for a holiday and never returned. He had had a heart attack. In his tale, which seemed to place himself at the centre, somewhat, the wife went to all the trouble of calling him from America, to tell him that they wouldn't be back and so wouldn't be needing his services anymore.

He then went on to say how he wasn't like other drivers. He didn't normally do "pick ups"...but that he was usually booked, morning to night, by regular clients. They would ask him to do airport runs, or take them sight seeing - or even just drive them around, everywhere, for the day. He was quite the hero, the way he told it, quite the indispensable driver.

I just listened quietly.

Once we arrived home, he tore off the receipt and handed me the bill.

It was rather higher than I had expected.

"I didn't call you out, you know."

There was a two ringgit "on call" charge on the bill.

"Yes. That is for the luggage. We usually charge 2 ringgits for the luggage."

Indeed. Well, I didn't have any luggage - I had some shopping. Furthermore, taxis don't charge two ringgits for that anyway. However, this is a common ruse of taxi drivers, here. I have even had one driver who tried to charge 10 ringgits extra for opening the boot.

I said nothing. I just paid his phantom charge - but inwardly I thought the whole thing rather amusing. He had given me a huge spiel designed to impress me about what a desirable driver he was to have - about how many expats chose him, especially to drive them around - and there he was showing his true character, by adding on a fictitious charge. What an idiot. No wonder he is losing so many regulars. I have no doubt that many of those "37 regulars" have not gone home at all. They have just had the chance to compare his charging practices with that of other drivers and realized that he was overcharging them.

I thought his behaviour a perfect illustration of the tendency to sacrifice long term aims, to short term greed. It is rather common here, I think, having noted it, already, quite a few times. Rather than ensuring a regular customer, by behaving impeccably and offering a genuinely good service, such people would rather profit, in the moment, by a few extra ringgits. When you think about it, it is remarkably short-sighted behaviour. It could even be described as self-defeating and self-destructive.

He gave me his card and urged me to book him in future, should I need to travel around. He clearly thought he had fooled me: funny isn't it?

Today, I had another uncannily similar experience. This was also an Indian driver. This one older, and thinner, but equally well presented. He talked even faster than the first one. He too, made a pitch for long term business driving us sight-seeing, to the airport - or even "anywhere in the peninsula of Malaysia".

All the while, as he talked, I studied the meter. It was doing something very strange. It was going up in jumps of twenty cents, not ten. Not only that, but it was jumping up, EVERY FEW METRES. It wasn't behaving with the customary sedate pace of other taxi meters.

So, not only was the price per unit distance double normal, but the distance itself was clearly shorter than normal...several times shorter, by all appearances.

I treated the whole journey as a lesson in human nature. He babbled on, trying to impress me with the service he could offer - much as the other driver had. Meanwhile, I had the message of the meter to tell me the true nature of this talkative salesman. Again, it was almost funny...though a bit of an expensive joke, for such a short ride.

In the end, the journey, which was a short one, cost more than three times the usual price. Then, he too, added on a "toll".

"We didn't pass a toll.", I noted.

He changed tack.

"The luggage. That is for the luggage."

We didn't have any luggage...just shopping, again.

I said nothing, but paid him without the "toll" added.

He said: "That is OK."

Then he wrote his number on the back of the receipt, since I would clearly be in need of booking a driver who costs three times as much as anyone else.

What a funny world.

So, both drivers gave sales pitches, for long term, repeat business - and both blew it, by short-term greed shown by overcharging.

One detail I should add: at the beginning of the journey, the driver tapped the meter and said: "See this is on the meter...see?"

What he didn't say, is that he had a very special meter, unlike anyone else's. I wonder if he had tampered with it, himself?

Anyway, I have been watching drivers in KL, for a couple of months now. In that time, we have taken many cabs. I have, however, selected only three drivers, who showed spontaneous acts of honesty and good service. It is interesting how much such behaviour stands out from the likes of those above. The funny thing is, none of the drivers we selected made any sales pitch at all...they just exuded integrity and that was enough for me. The best sales pitch of all is a good character. KL's taxi drivers would do well to remember that.

Oh, and the first driver's number: HWC 4381. If you encounter him, expect rapid patter and imaginative charging practices. Good luck. (I don't have the second one's details: his hand written receipt had no identifying information).

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, 10, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, 6 and Tiarnan, 4, this month, please go to:
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This blog is copyright Valentine Cawley. Unauthorized duplication is prohibited. Use only with permission. Thank you.)

Where even the taxi drivers are creative.

Malaysia is not Singapore. That might seem like an obvious thing to say, but it isn't really, since Singapore and Malaysia were both once part of Malaya. They have a shared history - yet, their nature, particularly their psychological nature could not be more divergent.

We have spent the past few days in Malaysia. In that time, I have been rather surprised by some of the differences in behaviour I have noted. I shall address but one, today.

On two of the taxi trips we have taken, the taxi drivers showed a quality I have never noted in Singaporean drivers: creativity on the road. By this I mean that they showed creativity in how they navigated their way across the city. In one case, the driver took a short cut through a hospital by pretending to be visiting a patient, and taking an entry ticket, just like every other visitor, so that he could circumvent a traffic jam! I was most impressed with his resourcefulness.
In another case, the driver doubled back, on seeing a huge queue of traffic and took a meandering way off the main road onto a back road that was virtually empty of traffic: "Not many people know this way.", he observed in explanation. Sure enough, he got us back to our hotel in about half the time the outbound journey had taken with another taxi driver. Again, I was most impressed with this evidence of creativity.

Singaporean drivers never really show evidence of creative thought. Indeed, many Singaporean drivers don't know their own city well enough to get one there at all, never mind invent a special time saving route. The difference in knowledge between some of the Malaysian drivers we have seen, and their Singaporean counterparts is quite stark. Perhaps it is a matter of survival in a way. The Malaysian drivers have a strong incentive to avoid traffic and some become inventive in response, to do so.

Yet, that is not the only evidence I have seen of creativity here. I will write of those other evidences in other posts.

In the meantime, I look forward to the not infrequent surprise that is a taxi trip, here.

The passenger should be in control

In Singapore, taxi drivers pride themselves on their dishonesty. Or, at least they appear to. I have travelled quite widely (about 20 countries) but I cannot recall a nation of taxi drivers so prone to invent ways to increase their income at the expense of the passenger.

A case in point, minor as it might seem, is when the taxi stops. Ask yourself, how many times has the taxi driver refused to stop the meter at that moment - but then makes excuses to wait, by adjusting the mirror, fiddling with the steering, staring vacantly into space, or edging the car forward again, after stopping, all in the hope of nudging the meter up another 20 cents? If you have had the same experiences I have with taxi drivers then you would have to say that most drivers do this. Almost all drivers will try to wait or roll forward, to make the meter roll up another 20 cents.

Does 20 cents extra per journey matter? Well, it does if you add it up across a year. Many Singaporeans take at least two taxi journeys a day, some take four or more. However, let us look at 2 per day. That is 730 per year. That works out at $146 per year stolen from you by taxi drivers, simply because they cheat the fare by 20 cents at the end of every journey.

Today was an example of this kind. The taxi stopped. The meter didn't. The taxi driver started adjusting everything in sight. I told him: "Stop the meter". He didn't. He carried on adjusting. "Stop the meter". I said again. He didn't. He carried on adjusting - in sullen silence. "Stop the meter". I said. He didn't. Though he did stop moving. He just sat there, hoping the meter would suddenly tick over. It didn't. Finally, I said: "Stop the meter!" rather more insistently. Finally he reached slowly forward and stopped the meter. It hadn't rolled up despite his best effort. (It takes 45 seconds of waiting, I understand, or some extra distance - hence the rolling forward). Now, I don't know about you, but I find this taxi ritual irritating. It irritates me that I have, so often, to fight the driver to get him to stop the meter when he should. It shouldn't be like this. A change is needed. The passenger should be in control of the meter. Any passenger should have the right to reach over and stop the meter. In fact, I have been thinking about starting to do just that - to stop it myself, at the end of every journey. I wonder how that would go down?

Anyway, it would be good to see a special button in the back of every cab, that allowed the passenger to stop the meter - because $146 a year taxation on a typical Singaporean, by cab drivers, is a little too much. In fact, for many it would be much more. My family typically takes perhaps 4 cabs per day. That is $300 a year extra in unnecessary charges because almost all taxi drivers show this particular kind of dishonesty.

I suggest that people start stopping the meter, when the cab stops: just reach over and push that button. You really shouldn't wait until the driver gets around to it - it isn't fair on you. Or put it another way, do you really want to give taxi drivers an annual bonus of $146 out of your own pocket, as a reward for dishonesty?

I don't.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged eight years and five months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, four years and ten months, and Tiarnan, twenty-seven months, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, wunderkind, wonderkind, genio, гений ребенок prodigy, genie, μεγαλοφυία θαύμα παιδιών, bambino, kind, niño, gênio criança, gifted adults and gifted children in general. Thanks.)

A tale of two taxi drivers

Singapore's taxi drivers are famous for many things: for disappearing when you just need them, so that you will be forced to call them out; for taking circuitous routes whenever they think they can get away with it - and for simply not knowing where they are going in one of the world's geographically simplest cities.

I wish to add two more things they should be known for, so that those who come to take a cab, when they have to, might look out for them.

Today we had an early birthday party for Tiarnan. It was at Orchid Country Club. There was no other way to get there, except by cab - so we broke our "no cab" rule, and took a cab there and a cab back.

I found the behaviour of the drivers quite surprising, given the fact that fares have already risen excessively.

The outward bound cab: SHA 3666J, already had the metre running before we got in. It showed 3 dollars on the metre. It should have showed $2.80, so it had been running long enough to have rolled up already. It wasn't the quantum of the deceit that annoyed me, it was the fact he would try to do this, even though the fares have already risen dramatically. It was the principle that a price is a price, and nothing should be done to inflate it.

I confronted him as he got out to see to a problem with the boot.

"Why was the metre running before we got in?"

"Eh?"

"Why was the metre running before we got in?"

"Sorry, I no understand English."

"You understand metre:" his face registered the word, "why is the metre running?"

"OK, OK."

When we got in, he seemed to adjust the metre as if to restart it. He didn't seem to know how to use it and had great trouble adjusting it.

After he had finished fiddling with it, it still showed a sum above the starting fare. He hadn't changed it at all.

Communicating with him was such a struggle - and he was so clearly not going to be honest about it, that I gave up and resolved to complain later.

The driver on the way home tried another trick: one that was almost funny to watch, so farcical was it. His cab was SHA 4441J.

When we stopped at our house, he didn't stop the metre. He fiddled with the gear stick. He adjusted the steering. He looked at the metre. It still hadn't changed. So he fiddled with his ignition key. It still hadn't changed. So, then he looked out of the window, into the distance, as if struck by a great thought that needed attention. (No doubt it went a bit like this: "I must get that extra 20 cents.")

So, I told him: "Stop the metre."

He didn't. He just waited.

"Stop the metre."

He didn't. He just waited.

"Stop the metre...don't take six hours to do so, like all the other drivers!"

Finally, he reached out very slowly, to stop the metre. No doubt he hoped it would change before his finger touched the key.

He said nothing. He didn't acknowledge his intent. Except in his face: that seemed to say..."This passenger is cheating me out of my fair, traditionally entitled, overcharge!"

I haven't taken a cab in a very long time. In fact, it is at least a couple of weeks since I last took one. The new fares struck me as unfair, so I gave taxis up, as a bad habit. They are a bit like cigarettes - only they cause a cancer of the pocket.

Now that I have sampled the new service, I can say that the drivers are behaving even more dishonestly than before. They are not satisfied with fares that can mean a doubling of the charges. They have to try to squeeze more out of every passenger. Maybe this is because there are fewer passengers.

So, if you take a cab, check that the meter does not start until you actually board. Often the meter will already have been running for a while. When you get to your destination, note whether the driver has stopped the meter. Often they won't - they will distract you until the fare has suitably increased. Some of them never stop it all and will just bill you the highest amount it reaches before you manage to get out of the cab.

It seems as if taking cabs are now even more fun than they used to be. It is now a battle of the wits between driver and passenger: the driver trying every ruse he can to secure a higher fare, the passenger trying his or her best not to get ripped off. I suppose that is called public entertainment.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged eight years and one month, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, four years and six months, and Tiarnan, twenty-three months, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, gifted adults and gifted children in general. Thanks.)

You'd think they would be satisfied with official robbery, without adding a little private robbery of their own.

The Great ComfortDelGro Taxi Rip-off

Singaporeans, although they don't necessarily know it, already receive one of the worst taxi services in the world. Taxi drivers use every ploy in the book and some that aren't (ie. read "unethical") to increase their income at the expense of the Singaporean public. Yet, the situation is just about to get a lot worse.

ComfortDelGro, the largest taxi fleet in Singapore, comprising Comfort, CityCab and Yellow-top taxis, making up fully 65 per cent of all Singaporean taxis, with 15,000 of Singapore's 23,000 cabs, is going to DOUBLE taxi fares from Monday.

There have been hints, in recent days, of a "30 cent rise" in flag down rate. The fact that they would dribble out the news with that parsimonious description of the true state of affairs, is rather insulting to Singaporeans who may, now, be unable to afford a cab at all.

The flag down rate is indeed rising from $2.50 to $2.80. More significant, however, is that the rate of charge, for time and distance is DOUBLING to 20 cents per unit, from the present 10 cents. This means that taxis will now cost twice as much as before, on a per distance, per time basis. Yet, that is just the beginning of the price rises.

During the peak period - when people are most likely to be travelling, which is Monday to Friday, 7 am to 9.30 am and Monday to Saturday, 5 pm to 8 pm, there will be a 35% premium charge on the metered fare. Currently, the peak surcharge is a flat $2 no matter what the distance or time of journey.

The City Area Surcharge, for pick ups in the City area will TRIPLE to $3 and will be payable for a greater part of the day (Monday to Saturday, 5pm to Midnight). Currently, it is $1 payable Monday to Thursday, 5pm to 8 pm and Friday to Saturday, 5 pm to 11.30 pm.

The late night surcharge will be 50% of the metered fare, added on, from midnight to 5.59 am. Currently, there are staggered rates from 11.30 pm to 5.59 am.

The only improvement, from the point of view of the passenger, is that booking fees will be reduced to $3.50 prime time, Monday to Friday, 7 am to 9.30 am and 5pm to 11 pm. Currently they are $4. Off peak booking fees will remain at $2.50.

So what do all these changes mean to how much it will now cost to take a cab in Singapore?

Well, let us do an analysis.

For someone taking a cab home after work, at say, 7 pm, from the City area, for a journey which presently costs, say $12, what will the new cost be? Well, under the old regime, the flag down portion of that $12 is $2.50. The City Surcharge is $1. The peak charge is $2. The rest, $7.50 is the metered portion based on time and distance.

Under the new regime, the flag down would be $2.80. The metered portion would be charged at DOUBLE the rate, making it 2 times $7.50 = $15. The City area surcharge would be $3. This makes a total of $20.80. On top of this there will be a 35% peak period premium, giving a total for the fare of an astonishing $28.08!

They spoke of a "30 cents rise"...but what actually are ComfortDelGro doing? New prices on a typical sample journey are 234 % of present prices. This now makes taxi taking an unaffordable service for most Singaporeans. Almost no-one is going to agree to pay almost 30 dollars for a journey that until now has been 12 dollars, or so, on a regular basis. That is just for short trips. Long trips such as runs to the airport will now cost perhaps 50 or 60 dollars, compared to just over 20 dollars, presently, for many Singaporeans.

Singaporeans are being cheated on every front by the public taxi service. They are driven by poorly trained, ignorant, dishonest drivers who don't know where they are going and try to cheat the passenger every way they can - and now they will be gouged, by truly ugly fares everytime they board a cab.

It is, I feel, a time for Singaporeans to show what they think of these new fare rises: by never taking a cab from ComfortDelGro again. Should other cab services raise their fares in a similar way, they too can be avoided. If no-one agrees to these fares by taking cabs anymore, then they will have to reduce the fares to what they were before - or something similar.

Why is ComfortDelGro doing this? Well, it says it is an answer to the problem of unavailability of cabs, when people need them. I find that ludicrous. Why were cabs unavailable? Because the cab drivers were acting in unison, to cheat the customers, by "hiding" and refusing to pick up passengers unless they called them out, and paid call out charges. The drivers were only unavailable because they were busy cheating the consumer. Now, ComfortDelGro has had the inspired idea of rewarding these dishonest drivers by making the practice of gouging the customer official and ensuring that ALL taxi journeys are a complete rip-off. Thirty dollars for a modest trip out of town, for a country in which salaries are modest by Western standards (really, really modest, if the truth be known, for most Singaporeans), is far, far too much. Taxis, henceforth, will be for tourists only - who really don't have a choice and don't know any better.

The real answer to the issue of vanishing taxis and the inability to get one unless a call-out is made is much simpler than across the board, greedy fare rises. The real answer is to penalize any driver who behaved like that. There should have been high fines and perhaps custodial sentences for repeat offenders. That is what works in Singapore to bring behaviour into line - and that is what should have been done for taxi drivers. Their behaviour should have been made illegal, with stiff penalties.

Another alternative would have been to abolish the call-out charge altogether - and made it illegal not to take a call-out booking. That would have worked equally well.

In Singapore, taxi drivers will never do the right thing, in terms of service. They will always do what makes them the most money, even if that action is a dishonest one - or an illegal one (if no-one is looking). The notion of giving good customer service has not entered the consciousness of this particular workforce - nor, it seems, has it entered the minds of the ComfortDelGro executives who have just decided to multiply the price of a typical taxi journey by 2 and a third times.

Decisions like ComfortDelGro's affect the quality of life of everyone who lives and works in Singapore. Such decisions should be made with much more care. They say they are looking after the interests and livelihoods of taxi drivers. Well, what about everyone else's interests and livelihoods? My experiences with Singaporean taxi drivers have been very mixed. Some of the poorer experiences have led me to the opinion that drivers do not deserve special consideration. Many of them have behaved extremely dishonestly towards me. They need to be regulated - not rewarded with higher fares.

From Monday, the viable transport options of millions of Singaporeans will be reduced by one modality. For from Monday, millions of Singaoreans will no longer be able to afford one of the most convenient forms of transport previously available: the taxi cab.

The only hopeful possibility is if people stop taking cabs. If no-one takes cabs anymore, then prices will have to return to previous levels. I, for one, will do my utmost to find any other mode of transport than a taxi cab, in future. Quite frankly, with the levels of DISservice, presently common, and the new price rises - they don't deserve my custom - or yours, for that matter.

Note: Source of data on the new taxi fare structure: today's Today newspaper, page 3.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged eight years and no months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, four years and five months, and Tiarnan, twenty-two months, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, the Irish, the Malays, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, gifted adults and gifted children in general. Thanks.)

Are Singaporean taxi drivers trained?

Singaporean taxi drivers often strike me as among the least knowledgeable of their breed. Indeed, Singapore is the only country I have ever visited, in which the taxi drivers quite often don't know where they are going. It seems needless to add, but add I must, that Singapore is such a small country, that it is, in fact, a modest sized city, and that to not know where you are going, within it, as a professional driver, is quite some feat.

It is apt that I should comment at this time, for the largest taxi fleet is set to raise the flagdown rate of its taxis by a rumoured 30 cents and has hinted at other ways to raise revenue (read: increase pricing), as well. This comes upon the huge rise in call-out charges some months back.

The big question is, of course: are these price rises justified when service is so poor?

Before any prices rise, the taxi fleets need to address the issue of driver competence. Singaporean drivers are often a poorly informed and not particularly honest bunch. They don't know where they are going - or if they do, they deliberately take very circuitous routes. They do anything they can to inflate the fare and cheat the passenger - particularly if, like me, that passenger is a foreigner. I have seen all sorts of ploys - all of them calculated to deprive me of rather more dollars than is justified by the journey embarked upon. Some drivers have even driven off with the passengers' belongings. (Some 20,000 dollars worth of wedding gifts, for instance, in a famous recent case.) So, all in all, a Singaporean taxi is something to be wary of, for one reason or another.

A recent journey brought me to ask the title question. We booked a taxi (and paid the exorbitant surcharges), since we were going to a wedding. Rather than give him our precise location, we told him to drive to somewhere obvious, nearby.

"Jurong Junior College.", we requested, as we got into the cab.

"Where? I don't know.", he replied.

Ah, I thought, he doesn't know where the Junior College is.

"You show me.", he continued, pointing ahead at the mystery of the roads, on which he drove daily.

So, we were to show a professional driver, in a very small city, where to go...

We got to the first meeting of roads and he slowed. "Which way?" he asked, without embarrassment.

It was clear, then, that it was not the Junior College that he didn't know the way to. He didn't know the way to Jurong. That flabbergasted me - for it meant he didn't know the city at all.

As the journey proceeded, this man, who had the nerve to call himself a taxi driver, would ask us for instructions at every single meeting of roads, junction or turning, all along the way. He quite simply knew nothing at all of the geography of Singapore.

Finally, as we neared our destination, my wife said: "Just turn left at Jurong JC."

"JC? I don't know what JC is." he said, in utter mystification.

My wife and I looked at each other. There is something you should know at this point. Only Singaporeans are allowed to drive Singaporean taxis. That means that all were born here, educated here and grew up here. As you have no doubt noticed, JC is the abbreviation for Junior College (which we first asked him for). So, even if he had been a foreigner - which he couldn't possibly be - he should have known what JC was. Yet, he was a native. He had been through the school system - yet he had managed to do so, without knowing the names of the schools.

I grew really uncomfortable then. Was our driver senile? He didn't look old enough to be, being in his fifties at my best guess. Or was he just lying about his lack of knowledge? Was his "I don't know where I am going", just a ruse to ensure that, on average, he always travelled a longer route than otherwise, because his passengers would tend not to have the best route knowledge?

In a way, I rather hoped it was a ruse - for I find it incredible that someone of so little mental competence, as not even to know the most basic things about the society he grew up in - not its geography and not the names of its institutions - could actually be allowed behind the wheel of a taxi.

Was he truly that mentally incompetent? If so, he shouldn't be driving - and a system that can allow such a driver on the road, is seriously flawed. Clearly, there is no real training of these drivers. It is not infrequent to step into a cab driven by someone who hasn't got a clue where he is going. That should never happen. No-one should be allowed to drive until they know their way around.

In London, where I grew up, the cab drivers prided themselves on The Knowledge - an examination in the routing between all destinations in London. All cab drivers had to pass this test. As a result, I never had the experience, in London, of being driven by a taxi driver who didn't know where he was going. Yet, in Singapore, I have that experience several times a week. Singaporean drivers simply don't know Singapore. Furthermore, those that do, often use that knowledge of best routes, to avoid them and give the passenger the longest, most expensive route possible (at least they do to me, a Caucasian). It is truly a disgrace to the nation. Yet, instead of addressing the issue of useless, incompetent and dishonest drivers - what are the authorities going to do? They are going to raise the price of taxis again. That is the second time in a year.

Before they raise prices, they should first take off the roads all the dishonest drivers - and all the incompetent drivers. All new drivers should be exhaustively trained in the ways and byways of Singapore. Then, and only then, should they even begin to consider raising the price. They should remember that it is called a taxi SERVICE - and attend to the service part, first.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged eight years and no months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, four years and five months, and Tiarnan, twenty-two months, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, the Irish, the Malays, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, gifted adults and gifted children in general. Thanks.)