Taking Taxis in Singapore

There’s no avoiding the fact that Singapore is a long ways from Grand Rapids. I considered myself fortunate to make the journey on Wednesday in less than 24 hours. The fact that flight time from Tokyo to Singapore is nearly 7 hours (approximately equivalent to the flight time from New York to Paris) is just one view into the immensity of Asia.

This was my fourth visit to this island city-state. My most enduring sensations of Singapore are

1)  flyovers/overpasses draped with purple, pink, or white bougainvillea flowers 

2)  smack-you-in-the-face humidity

3)  orderliness

Getting around Singapore, compared to many other places around the world, is remarkably simple. The city’s underground and above-ground metro system reaches across the island, uniting the airport, the central business district, and many outlying areas. Although I’ve made much use of the trains during previous trips, the relative shortness of my visit this time (24 hours) meant that most of my transit this time was by Singapore taxis.

Taxis are everywhere in Singapore. Every hotel, shopping center, and many other places have a taxi queue. Perhaps the most striking thing about the system is its orderliness. This is hardly shocking in Singapore, which is probably among the most “orderly” places on earth. Taxis come at a number of levels, with “flag drop” charges differing by a few cents based on the prestige of the car. All taxis are metered and governed by a strong set of rules. The driver’s name and license number is prominently displayed, many take credit cards, and they are required to have change. For anyone who has haggled over taxi fare, found a driver without change for a moderate-sized bill, or experienced a ride wondering all along if you are being taken advantage of, this makes for a deeply simple and gratifying process. 

The diversity of Singapore is on full display in its taxis. In four rides, I had three male and one female driver ranging in age from early 20s to late 60s. Three were Chinese, one was Malay. One driver had an elaborate display of Buddhist objects on the dashboard and played western pop music on the radio (Singapore’s best mix, in the DJ’s words!). One had hung a crucifix from his rearview mirror and played peppy Chinese pop music. The Malay driver’s car lacked any decoration at all and the radio played what seemed to me to be Malay-language talk radio.

This is not an easy week to be a taxi driver in Singapore. This Sunday is the Singapore Formula 1 Race, which takes place on city streets in the city’s waterfront district. By mid-week, numerous thoroughfares were beginning to close in preparation, causing traffic jams more reminiscent of Manila or Jakarta than Singapore. Overhead electronic boards, in addition to the usual admonitions to drive respectfully, added calls for patience.

There’s nothing quite like riding in a taxi across a city in the middle of the night on the way to the airport for an early flight. I found myself in such a situation on Saturday morning, as I prepared to fly on to Malaysia. The Chinese driver made his way down the surprisingly-busy-for-4-in-the-morning Pan-Island Expressway, the radio playing “Singapore’s best mix.” Sandwiched between the latest Beyoncé hit and Michael Bolton was the 1980s evangelical youth group hit Friends are Friends Forever by Michael W. Smith. How exactly such a thing made its way into “Singapore’s best mix” is beyond my comprehension. I can honestly say that I had gone many (rather happy) years without hearing that tune. But alas, it found me in a taxicab on an expressway in Singapore in the middle of the night. Globalization defined.

And now, having relived the memory, I can’t get the song out of my head…