In the space of the last 40 days, I had the opportunity for various reasons to be in Singapore, Hong Kong as well as Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam. In each of the cities, I aslo had the opportunity to take a ride (paying .. of course) in their taxi plying the city. In all the cities, I found the taxi that I was in clean, very orderly, the driver dressed smartly, very courteous and all used meters that was officially sealed. In all, they looked pretty professional to me as a tourist, say.
Sad to say, when I took a Malaysian taxi from the Airport to return to my house in Minden Heights, Penang, it was disheartening to see and eventually feel what a tourist coming to Malaysia would experience and feel. My taxi was acceptable though a bit smelly, but the taxi the wife was in was grotty, including the driver, dressed shabbily, had a bag of vegetables on the passenger side and something that looked like the laundry in the back. Aiyaaa, tak tau lah ...
I think we need a change, a drastic change. Our taxi driver saga is getting ridiculous. Although there may be good ones, the not so good ones are the general representatives. What if we have a taxi company that hire GRADUATES as drivers . .. hmmm .. at leat they can converse well, carry themselves well, are well mannered. They should dress smartly and have an extremely well kept taxi (with a uniform company logo). I do not think that it would be demeaning for a graduate to earn a living driving a taxi. It is a job, an honest job and can be a good Malaysian ambassador to the tourist or even locals
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Rozhan..BTW, where's your shoutbox as you used to have it? WEll, this entry caught my interestas it was voice out by you as a Malaysian on the state of taxi driver's in msia.Would you mind if I c&p your article to be place in my site? Credits to you, bole kan?
Noushy syah
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