To the Citycab driver of license plate SHC567X! You are a disgrace to the human race!!
We kindly ask you to drive 100m ahead just to pick up a handicap person who needs a ride. But instead, after dropping off your previous passenger, you didn't utter a word like you're dumb and can't speak. And when you saw that the person is a handicap, you turned and drove off, then picked up an able person.
I wonder if you have a heart? If you do, it must be black. Hope you have a bon voyage anyway. It's gonna rain, so be careful.
Handicap eligible communters are encouraged to call
SMRT hotlines for a handicap enabled taxi .
Taxis for disabled welcome - but not its fee
A new SMRT taxi which is user- friendly for wheelchair-bound customers has drawn mixed reactions.
While the 2.5-litre Hyundai Starex cab has a specially trained driver and an automated hydraulic ramp to help them get on board, potential customers said the $8 booking fee is steep.
They can flag it down on the roads and pay the $3.20 starting fee but chances of spotting the cab are slim. There is only one in service for now, but four more will be introduced by the year-end. The cab was launched by SMRT Taxis at the Singapore Zoo yesterday.
On the $8 booking fee, Ms Sherena Loh, 49, senior manager of the Muscular Dystrophy Association, said: 'Unlike people who take luxury cabs for added comfort, the wheelchair users who need this special taxi have no other choice. And very likely, they do not have the means to spend that much on transport.'
Most wheelchair users, she noted, are not working and belong to the lower-income group.
Said Ms Loi Boon Lee, director of community partnerships at the Society for the Physically Disabled: 'SMRT has been giving its support to people with disabilities. We hope it will review this booking fee.'
SMRT said the taxi's bigger capacity and wheelchair-friendly features warrant the $8 charge, which is similar to that for booking a limousine cab.
Yesterday, SMRT also donated $180,000 worth of taxi services to 150 beneficiaries from four hospitals and two voluntary welfare groups.
One beneficiary, Mr Razak Ismail, 41, a data entry officer, is excited about the new taxi.
'It's very user-friendly. I don't need to use any energy or exert myself to get into the cab,' he said.
This article was first published in The Sunday Times on Sept 21, 2008.
