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Tag: Singporeans

  • LTA: Cabbies, Private-Hire Drivers Cannot Do Courier Jobs

    LTA: Cabbies, Private-Hire Drivers Cannot Do Courier Jobs

    Taxi drivers and private-hire drivers are not allowed to be couriers or deliverymen for goods if there is no passenger on board, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) said yesterday.

    In response to queries from The Straits Times, an LTA spokesman said: “Under our regulations, taxis and private-hire cars are meant to carry passengers for hire and reward, and cannot be used solely for the conveyance of goods.

    “However, passengers who hire a taxi or a private-hire car are allowed to carry goods with them.”

    LTA was unable to comment immediately on the penalties for infringement, or if anyone has been taken to task yet.

    ComfortDelGro, the biggest taxi company here, confirmed its drivers have taken jobs from delivery companies such as Amazon Prime, but maintained that the goods are always accompanied by a passenger.

    Drivers, however, said this was not always the case.

    Cabby Henry Tay, 48, said: “Previously, there was a fear that what we delivered would be contraband or drugs. But now, with an established company like Amazon, we feel it is quite safe.

    “The taxi business is getting slow, so cabbies need to do something to supplement their earnings.”

    Private-hire driver Tan Ee Hsing, 41, said he has not done any deliveries himself, but has helped direct some 200 drivers to Adecco, Amazon’s hiring agent here.

    “The rates these delivery companies pay are generally higher than what drivers make from passenger fares,” he said.

    Premier Taxi managing director Lim Chong Boo said: “We remind our drivers that they are not allowed to perform courier services without anyone on board.”

    However, he said it was “very difficult” for the authorities to enforce regulations, given that there are about 26,000 taxis and more than 40,000 chauffeured private- hire cars here.

    Prime Taxi chairman Neo Nam Heng said the courier business helps drivers optimise capacity during the off-peak hours between 10am and 4pm.

    “I have encouraged all the drivers of my fleet of 1,500 taxis to take up such bookings,” he said.

    Housewife C.N. Yeo, 51, said she has had purchases delivered to her home by a Comfort taxi driver.

    Amazon could not respond by press time yesterday.

    Lazada, which also owns online grocer RedMart, said it does not use taxis or private-hire cars for deliveries.

     

    Source: http://www.straitstimes.com

  • Netflix Shows Yishun In Stranger Things Promotional Video

    Netflix Shows Yishun In Stranger Things Promotional Video

    “Is Yishun cursed, simply unlucky or struck by something stranger?”

    These are the words accompanying a clip of Yishun, posted by American video streaming giant Netflix on its Facebook page on Wednesday (March 22) night.

    The clip, likely advertising the second season of its hit series Stranger Things, shows a Yishun MRT station sign against a background of the Upside Down, or a parallel universe in the sci-fi horror television series.

    A shadow passes by briefly halfway through the 11-second clip.

    Stranger Things, Netflix’s original supernatural series, stars 90s star Winona Ryder whose son mysteriously vanishes.

    The series has catapulted its young actors to stardom, including Millie Bobby Brown, Gaten Matarazzo, Finn Wolfhard, Noah Schnapp and Caleb McLaughlin.

    The 2016 eight-episode series received stellar reviews and ratings, and will be returning for a second season on Halloween this year.

    Netizens were amused by the post, which poked fun at Singapore’s northern Yishun town and the reputation it appears to have acquired as a seedy place where anything can happen.

    Wrote Facebook user Stuart Kuek: “Even Netflix is making fun of Yishun… time to build a wall around Yishun.”

    Jacq Lim called it “the Upside Down of Singapore”, while Yong Jian Lee wrote: “New show ‘Yishun Things’”.

    But not everyone was amused.

    Joseph Jo wrote: “Lame, not funny… been living here my whole life, wasn’t so bad like 10 years ago… who to blame?”

    The Straits Times in February wrote about the odd reputation Yishun has acquired for negative news. Reports about happenings in the area range from cat killings, murder, brothel raids and civilians trying to attack policemen with stun guns.

    But the made-up phenomenon is driven by media coverage and confirmation bias, experts said.

    Assistant Professor Liew Khai Khiun, from Nanyang Technological University’s Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information, said Yishun’s reputation boils down to “public imagination”.

    Nee Soon GRC MP Mr Louis Ng said there are both positive and negative news in every estate, “but a lot more people read the bad news”.

     

    Source: ST

  • Khairudin Aljunied: Jangan Patah Hati, Tanam Semangat Untuk Terus Belajar

    Khairudin Aljunied: Jangan Patah Hati, Tanam Semangat Untuk Terus Belajar

    Ramai di kalangan teman saya katakan pada saya bahawa mereka memang tidak minat sambung belajar kerana dalam soal membaca buku dan mengkaji, mereka agak bengap.

    Sebenarnya, tiada manusia yang bengap. Semuanya diberikan keupayaan untuk mempelajari apa sahaja dengan kemampuan mereka kecuali yang langsung tidak boleh berfikir kerana kecacatan atau hilang akal atau yang sakit.

    Pernah saya berkawan dengan seorang yang dari kecil tidak pernah lulus di sekolah. Namun bila dah sampai zaman remaja mula sedar yang dia mempunyai keupayaan untuk belajar. Dia langsung sambung belajar hingga ke menara gading. Hari ini, beliau berjawatan tinggi, bergaji lumayan.

    Tiada manusia yang bodoh belajar. Yang ada hanyalah yang tidak mahu belajar. Maka mereka ketinggalan sementara yang kurang upaya merai kejayaan dalam hidup kerana kecekalan dan semangat untuk terus belajar.

     

    Source: Khairudin Aljunied