This Facebook post confirms taxi fare dodgers in S'pore totally DGAF anymore

They just don't care.

Belmont Lay | July 25, 2016, 09:02 AM

It was reported that starting May 9, 2016, taxi fare dodgers will face stiffer penalties.

Offenders can now be fined S$200 for the first offence and S$400 for the second offence -- on top of the restitution payment for the unpaid fare.

Previously, fines were S$100 and S$200, respectively.

But does any of this matter? Of course not.

Because even though taxi fare dodgers have been called out time and time again, reporting, catching and enforcing the law is just too much of a hassle.

A total of 240 cases of taxi fare evasion were reported in 2015 -- almost double the number in 2014 -- but one can imagine the sheer number of unreported cases, if this following Facebook post on July 24 is anything to go by:

As mentioned in the post, this woman is exasperated to the point she has to take to social media to find someone she claims is a taxi fare dodger.

Even with his formal identification and photographic proof, this particular alleged fare dodger still refused to cough up what he owed the taxi driver.

And why does taxi fare dodging still happen consistently in Singapore?

As explained before, the hassle for taxi drivers to report fare evaders simply takes too much time and effort -- time and effort which they can employ to earn more money.

The process for taxi drivers, as it stands, include:

1) Making a police report

2) Following that up by reporting the offence to the taxi company

3) Then finally heading down to the Land Transport Authority to lodge yet another report

Moreover, it is only when repeat offenders who commit three or more offences and those who do not make a restitution payment of the unpaid fare will be prosecuted in court.

This is what the post said, in case you can't see it:

Not in the habit of naming and shaming people online but I believe this has to be done after giving him so many chances.

On the 20th July, this 20 year old NS recruit, Ang Wei Jun boarded my bf's father's taxi from Toh Guan to Chong Pang and ended the ride with $25 balance. He claimed that he didn't have enough to pay and promised to pay back within a few days. He gave my bf's dad his contact number and also a front & back picture of his 11B.

Within this 4 days, we contacted him multiply times through calling and texting. We agreed to meet 2 times for him to return the $25 but on these 2 times, he didn't turn up. We gave many chances for him to redeem himself but each time he either did not reply or just totally MIA.

We have lodged a police report but it wasn't much of a help because they pushed us to LTA instead. $25 may not be much but this is not the first time that this has happen to my bf's dad and I believe this is a common occurrence to all taxi drivers. These drivers are simply trying to make a living for their families and we have such idiots taking advantage of them.

We have no choice but to turn to social media for help. At some point it's not so much about taking the money back but more of making sure that Ang Jun Wei doesn't cheat anybody else the way he cheated my family.

Please help to share and hopefully track him down to make him feel at least ashamed for cheating an old man.

 

Related article:

Taxi fare cheats get away because too much hassle for taxi drivers to report them to police, LTA

 

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