As we all know, The Straits Times’ forum section can be a haunting abyss of ridiculous suggestions, uptight folks and facepalm-inducing perspectives — but there are those rare times when sensible voices get published.
16-year-old secondary 4 student Teo Chen Wei is one of them, and oh what sense he makes amidst all the swirling debates about the disruption of Singapore’s taxi industry brought upon by private-hire car services.
While the Public Transport Council is scrambling to respond to the exponential popularity of Grab and Uber (with taxi companies possibly starting to gang up on us), Teo explained in a clear and concise manner why we prefer booking rides over hailing for cabs.
“If traditional taxi firms came up with similarly intuitive apps and systems, I will gladly use them again,” wrote the secondary 4 student. “Instead of blaming taxi drivers, we should focus on the unwillingness of taxi firms to change, and their slow response to competition.”
In other words, if a 16-year-old confidently knows why the taxi industry is lagging behind, what’s stopping them from improving?
