Welcome Home !!!

NOT many people would spend an hour of their time taking down the licence plate numbers of more than 80 taxis.

But that was exactly what Mr Jeremy Gan did on 22 Mar, angered by the 'illegal' queue of taxis along Grange Road, outside the popular Orchard Cineleisure building.

Mr Gan, a civil servant, was upset by the aggressive behaviour of a cabby.

The incident happened while he and another couple on the pedestrian crossing between Orchard Road and Grange Road.

The 27-year-old claimed that a taxi driver, anxious to join the queue in front of Cineleisure, revved his engine impatiently when the lights were in favour of the pedestrians.

'All three of us stared at him, shocked. It was as though he intended to go ahead and roll us over just to join the queue,' Mr Gan said.

He decided to call the Orchard Neighbourhood Police Post and the Singapore Traffic Police.

When a patrol car turned up, none of the taxis budged at first. Even when the officers got out to take down numbers, the taxis just moved away temporarily.

'It was like they were playing hide and seek,' Mr Gan said.

After the police left, the queue reformed within minutes, he added.

Mr Gan felt that further action was required and spent the next hour taking down the licence plates of all the taxis in the queue.

He e-mailed the information to the taxi companies the next day.

'If you just inform them, or take down just one number, the companies will just give you textbook answers and nothing will be done,' Mr Gan felt.

He has since received replies from Comfort and Premier Taxis. Both said that they would warned and will monitor the drivers of the taxis which he noted down .

So how bad is the situation?

The New Paper went to the area from 11pm to 2am last Saturday. The busy road was congested with vehicles and teeming with pedestrians even at that hour.

The various sideroads connecting to Grange Road, where Cineleisure is, made the traffic situation messier.

A taxi driver of 15 years, Mr Tan Keon Chae, 50, never queues along Grange Road and dreads dropping off passengers there because of the gridlock.

He said the congestion deters taxis from entering the official Cineleisure drop-off point - in a sideroad near the building's carpark entrance - because it is so difficult to exit.

Moreover, vehicles trying to turn into that sideroad are unable to do so using the safest rightmost lane, since the taxi queue occupies it.

A taxi passenger, who gave her name only as Miss Lim, was one of those dropped off along the main road.

The 19-year-old manicurist said: 'If I come out from the left door, I will be in the way of oncoming cars. If I come out from the right door, the space is so small.'

The main road is also lined with hedges and drains. Passengers who alight along the road have few openings and have to find their way to the pavement.

Pedestrians were also seen jaywalking, although Grange Road has two pedestrian crossings.

Taxi drivers told The New Paper that they are attracted by the young crowd at the cineplex, as many of them do not own cars.

TAXI STAND WOULD HELP

Some also argued that a makeshift taxi queue was excusable after midnight because the traffic flow was lower.

Mr Anthony Siew, 40, an IT manager, said that a well-placed taxi stand could help.

Right now, the nearest one to Cineleisure is at the Meritus Mandarin hotel, about 30 metres away.

Mr Gan, who has been involved in a traffic accident at the same junction before, said that the traffic situation there is a matter that 'has long been overlooked'.

The regular visitor to Cineleisure added: '(Pedestrians and vehicles) just want to get out of the chaos and get on with what they are doing. They accept it as a norm. But for me, there has to be a limit. It is an accident waiting to happen.'

Richard G wrote:

---

The reporter also observed that there are a lot of jaywalkersso why didn't this civil minded civil servant took down the particulars of the jaywalkers or notify the relevant authority to take action?

---