LITMIR.BIZ

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      CHAPTER

       Fickle Fingers

      Teng, a taxi driver in Singapore, and his wife Siew Ling have two sons – six-year-old Ethan and two-year-old Ervin. Together with his parents, affectionately called Ah Kong and Ah Mah by the grandsons, they live in a modest government-subsidised HDB (Housing and Development Board) flat in Serangoon.

      His earnings as a taxi driver had become increasingly difficult to maintain due to rising competition from ride-hailing app services such as Grab and previously Uber.

      Uber, the larger of the two app services and the first entrant into the Singapore market, was sent packing after five years by Grab in August 2018. Grab, a Malaysian start-up, kept their finger on the customer pulse – listening and adapting to local needs and cultures of markets that it had entered. It saw an opportunity in Southeast Asia’s massive traffic jams and provided GrabBike – motorcycle taxis that could weave in and out of traffic in such markets as Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam. With a keen ear on what different markets wanted, Grab began chiselling away Uber’s market share. The eventual exit of Uber from Singapore fortified Grab’s position with offerings beyond car sharing, including food delivery, offers on limited edition merchandise such as special-flavoured KitKat and even mobile wallet. By late 2018, another ride-hailing app, Indonesian Gojek, entered the fray.

      On top of competition is the next generation of road pricing to be introduced in Singapore. To curb vehicles on the road, the current ERP (Electronic Road Pricing) that charges by entry into busy roads during peak hours will be eventually replaced by charges based on road usage. The more distance covered, the higher the toll. As a taxi driver, Teng wondered whether it would still be worth the while to cruise for passengers.

      All these spell a headache for taxi drivers who have seen their earnings dwindle. More taxi drivers have been throwing in the towel and exiting the taxi trade, some even preferring to become full-time Grab drivers.

      Ah Kong and Ah Mah had been concerned with Teng’s unstable earnings but he had assured them then that he knew where and when he could pick up passengers easily. And he remembered the budgeting and financial planning advice he had received from a well-meaning finance professor from NUS (National University of Singapore) whom he had given a ride to some years back. The professor had enlightened him of his research that showed some taxi drivers do not know how to target their earnings effectively.¹ And thankfully, he had signed up to be a Grab driver too as almost everyone he knows has a Grab app on their mobile phone.

      But with two growing young kids and ageing parents to look after, household expenses were mounting. Teng was finding it more challenging to make ends meet. Siew Ling’s salary as a sales assistant at a nearby shoe store could barely cover the enrichment classes that she and Teng wanted the boys to attend.

      “Should I become a full-time Grab driver?” Teng thought.

      Ever since his parents raised their concerns about his taxi-driving vocation, the thought of making a career switch nagged at him now and then. Sometimes on a slow day while driving along the highway, Teng wondered whether it was still worth the while to stay on as a taxi and Grab driver. Or should he switch to be a full-time Grab driver? He had heard from his cabby friends who had decided to stop driving taxis altogether and become full-time Grab drivers that the expenses were less. It seemed that the rental of the car is lower too.

      But with his easy-going personality, Teng tended to let matters slide. “Never mind. Don’t think too much. Just do good and be kind to others,” as he muttered his mantra while rubbing the small Goddess of Mercy statuette that his wife had carefully placed on his taxi dashboard on his first day of taxi driving, to ward off evil spirits.

       Weather Changes

      In 2019, Singapore experienced unusual weather for several months. From January to August, the island state had sweltering heat with temperatures rising to 39°C with not much rain. The same scorching weather was also experienced in Europe, India and several other parts of the world.

      “This must be due to global warming,” mentioned Siew Ling. “Thankfully we have changed our lights to LED to save on electricity. That helps in gas emissions.”

      “And remember the news report you told me about saving on air-con bills? I want to conserve but how can I do that since the weather is so hot? I need to use the air-con more often,” Ah Mah chimed in.

      Ah Mah was referring to the time when she was shutting the windows and turning on the air-conditioning unit when there was heavy construction next to their flat. While their electricity bill was higher whenever there was such construction, their bills remained high even after the construction ended.²

      Teng and Siew Ling learned from the news that Singaporeans tend to continue using air-conditioning because it has become a convenient habit even though there is no more noise or air pollution from nearby construction. Ever since then,

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