Transportation in Singapore

Most travel in Singapore is done via public transportation. The public transit system in S'pore would put most American cities to shame. It is fast, reliable, and stretches into large portions of the city. The government makes sure that people have access to it and don't need cars. But just in case people think that they might want a car, they have to overcome two other issues: 1) There is a $10,000 registration fee

(yes that's ten-thousand) for a car. 2) You have to pay a 200% tax as well.

Even with all those restrictions, I am amazed to see large numbers of cars around. Or more specifically, large numbers of luxury cars from Lexus and Mercedez. Just think of how much it would cost to purchase a brand new Lexus LS400 and then pay 200% tax on it. Incredible.

Parking is also ludicrously expensive. Indeed the local government has gone out of their way to make it preferable to take public transportation. And to be honest, I think the US could learn a lot from this. Clearly this is forcing people to walk a lot more.

If you don't want to use the MRT, you are left with taking cabs. Cabs for the distances I have to travel from the hotel are usually pretty inexpensive since I only have to go 2KM from the office to the hotel. Its short enough a distance that I would walk it - if it weren't so punishingly hot/humid here. The cabs are small regional Toyota designs, though every not and then you get one that's a Mercedez.



Catching a cab at the hotel is straightforward. Catching one in the evenings after work is a test of patience and endurance.

There are well defined Taxi stops where you go and wait with other people for taxis. But as you stand there you may find that the taxis (empty ones) just drive on by. In addition sometimes a taxi will pull up that you can't use. Taxi rules in Singapore are motivated entirely by driver greed. During rush hour, the drivers want you to call them because they get an additional $4 surcharge on top of your fare. At peak times they get $2 on top of that. So unless you are really in a hurry, you generally wait around until a taxi who hasn't been called and is impatient and wants to make some money pulls up. If a taxi pulls up with an on-call sign, it is reserved and waiting for someone else and won't take you.

One day I walked with Taka-san and Yakov-san as we were running late for dinner and didn't want to sit with the long queue of people waiting for a taxi. As we walked around and tried to wave people down unsuccessfully, we ended up just going to another taxi-stand and waiting. And consequently ended up late for dinner.

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