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Would you give up your car and use taxis?  Think about the advantages you will have:

• No parking charges 
• No summon for parking or driving offences
• No vehicle maintenance
• No road tax and radio license fees
• No need to purchase petrol

I have thought about giving up the car since taxi service is also able to bring me from point to point but I could not bring myself to do so due to two key reasons – safety and availability.

Taxi operators are profit-making companies and reducing cost will increase profitability. I am always concern about the road-worthiness of the taxis that ply our roads. Although LTA has set minimum safety requirement and regular inspection, management of the taxi companies will always try to stretch the maintenance intervals and lifespan of tyres while not violating regulations to meet business objectives and get their performance bonus. I hope they will balance short term gain with long term sustainability as I am appalled to see taxis with bald tyres and smoking exhaust.

I have on one occasion hired a taxi with the driver who is constantly checking the booking system for new calls as we are near my destination. He would whisper his calculation of how long to reach my destination and then to the pickup point and lament about not being able to make the booking. His behaviour really had me worried as his mind is not focus on the road condition. On several other occasions, I had drivers who were almost dozing off at the wheels and I had to keep up a conversation to maintain their alertness. I certainly ensure that my safety belts are securely fastened.

There have been many letters written to the local papers’ forum about the taxi booking fees. You cannot find any empty taxi during peak hours and rainy weather. They are strategically parked and will appear as soon as you make a booking. Many foreign tourists must have wasted precious time queueing at taxi stands in vain and seeing all arriving taxis with “on call” sign lighted up. The booking fees have become a talking point and it is one that foreign delegation should come to study it as a negative example – they should NEVER implement such a system back home. I am sure that LTA is aware of the complaints from the public so what is LTA doing about it? I felt that the taxi booking fees should be scrapped before we can claim to have world-class public transportation.

In the meantime, I will renew my road tax and continue driving my trusty MPV. I have full control over the servicing, tyre change, etc. and safety in my own hands. I would just have to bear with using taxis to and from the airport for my overseas travel.

I came across this discussion on the OneMotoring Forum and wonder if I would even break even on my car.  Below are some extracts from the discussion.

http://forum.onemotoring.com.sg/mvnforum/mvnforum/viewthread?thread=3647&offset=15

Fongs:

The so-called ‘break-even’ date is the time when yr outstanding bank loan amount is equal or greater than the market value of yr ride (in the case of COE cars, market value = scrap value + scrap metal token $$). This is not applicable if yr ride is already loan-free.

See Ho Ee:

I am always intrigue by this ‘breakeven’ date, and how car-owners used them to decide when to change ride or get rid of their ride.
Based on this definition: the breakeven date depends very much on loan amount ($) and duration (yrs).
1) If you take a loan (at 70% of total value of car for 7 years) and let this be $49k (principal + interest), repayment is $7k per year. Since PARF rebate is highest before the 5th year, it is most likely that breakeven date is ard 3 yrs.
2) If the same loan is change to 5 years tenure, the breakeven is slightly less than 2 yrs.
3) If you change this to 3 yrs tenure, the breakeven is slightly over 1 yr.
4) If you don’t take a loan, any day is breakeven.

Hence, it can be concluded that the breakeven serves no purpose. It is all about affordability. If you can afford, no loan needed. If you cannot afford, you stretch (max) your loan as long as possible. To use the residual value (PARF + COE) to pay off loan is really no brainer! It is still borrowing that you have to repay!

Therefore, back to my contention in previous posts: that buying a car of your choice all boils down to two factors:
1) falling in love with the particular made/model
2) affordability

http://forum.onemotoring.com.sg/mvnforum/mvnforum/viewthread?thread=3299

See Ho Ee:

The balanced equity point is what the non-accountants called ‘breakeven’. I had a hard time trying to understand this term as much as the terminology called ‘COE car’. I thought all cars on SG roads required COE. So if there is COE car, there must be oso be non COE car? That was what went thru my mind!  Well the motoring industry is full of ‘beng’ terms.

“Break-even” is a term used in economics referring to the point where the cost and the revenue is equal (also profit = zero). For motoring, the right term should be equity of the vehicle.

1. There are three kinds of vehicle equity:
   Negative equity is when the amount you owe for the loan on the vehicle is more than the vehicle’s market worth. This is where dealer will offer overtrading ie. loan a larger amount than the cost of the new car to cover the prepayment on the old car.
2. Balanced equity is the point when the amount you owe on the vehicle is about equal to the vehicle’ market worth. 
3. Positive equity is when the amount you still owe on the vehicle is less than the vehicle’s market worth. Buying a car using cash keeps you in positive ground.

If you are at point 1, I would not advise you to overtrade as it will put you deeper into the negative zone.  I have revised the Cost of Ownership tool to reflect the vehicle entity as well as allow the Overtrade Loan ie. Loan Amount is greater than New Car Price to settle the prepayment of the outstanding loan on the existing car.  The worksheet will show you how the new ride in an overtrade deal will become a significantly negative equity …. so do consider carefully before signing on the sales agreement.

I have just enhanced an older worksheet that help analyze the Cost of Ownership over the course of a motor vehicle’s lifespan (limited by the TEN-year validity of the Certificate of Entitlement) in Singapore.   The additional feature is the inclusion of the Cash Rebate motor loan scheme into the analysis.  You can find the new worksheet here.

A delivery truck hit and killed a 8-year-old boy when it reversed onto the pedestrian walkway at Simei MRT station (see CNA) on May 22.  I am appalled that a witness said the truck sounded its horn while reversing from the main road and expect that all pedestrians will stay clear of its path.  The driver was later arrested by the police.

Is there a flaw in the design of the area?  How can motor vehicles be even allowed to go onto the pedestrian walkway?  If there is a proper and safe loading/unloading bay nearby, then the truck driver is surely guilty of reckless driving.  I think he does the same delivery routine every few days and this is one day that he made a bad decision.

I hope the Traffic Police and LTA will do something to prevent such accident in future.  Concrete columns have been added to bus stops near road bends but that again is an after-accident action taken.  Designers of our buildings and road infrastructure should take safety as an important component into the design blueprint.

Accidents happen when we least expect them so do always carry out your safety checks especially for your daily routines.  An example is at the carpark near your home or workplace where you do the same routine everyday …. Don’t take for granted that the pathway is always clear for you!  Drive safely everywhere …..

How would the judge respond to Christopher’s appeal against the four weeks’ jail term?  I am of the opinion that justice be fairly applied to all offenders.  Although I am not his fan, I would be OK for his sentence to be reduced to perhaps ONE week and he commits himself to Road Safety education for the next two to three years.  

I think he has learned his lesson and the time behind bars will reinforce the seriousness of the offence.  Three more weeks in jail will not add much more value to him (maybe it will be his free sliming session …. I am not implying prison food is bad) while having him as a Road Safety evangalist will pull in appropriate publicity to increase the reach of Road Safety education. 

Would you support this idea?

Would this be the vision of an elderly driver?  I am in New Jersey after my previous post on Veteran Taxi-Drivers and had read the May 2 edition of USA Today. It had the feature story of “Stopping older, dangerous drivers a growing problem” (you need to purchase the article to read it in its entirety).

The issue is serious enough to be the cover story on USA Today’s front page. The case featured was a 90-year old lady drove past a red light near her home in Dallas and crashed into another car driven by a 17-year old girl who was going to school to take a test. She died five days later and her family pushed the Texas Legislature to pass a bill to tackle bad elderly drivers.

As our population ages, there are more elderly drivers on our roads and the attention to ensure safety will be increasingly important. Aging affects our mechanical reflexes, visual acuity and ability to focus – all these capabilities are integral to safe driving. Although elderly drivers are slower but their misjudgement at intersections posed much risk to the other drivers who are going at higher speed.

Drivers above the age of 65 years old have to pass the medical examination every three years mandated by the Traffic Police to renew their driving license. Should more be required on the elder drivers? I strongly feel so especially using on-road assessment and also involving their family members who are able to monitor their health status during the three years between medical examinations. The ability to quickly respond to illness symptoms and near-misses is essential to assure road safety for all.

You should have read about the recent case of the taxi-driver running down the driver after a minor collision. I believe that most of us would be angry at the merciless taxi-driver and sympathetic towards the victim who is lying in coma. The motoring public did rally for the key eye-witness (lady passenger in the taxi) to come forward and she did finally surfaced to give her side of the story.

The taxi-driver is a 68 years old relief driver – he may a grandfather by this age and I cannot imagine that he would intentionally run over the young man. I hope that the circumstances of the incident be analyzed in details for a fair trial. I have the hunch that his health and visual capability may have strong bearing on the case. So I googled and found a related article at
OneMotoring’s FAQ on Taxi Drivers’ Age Limit.

Taxi Driver Vocational License can be renewed to qualified taxi-drivers age up to 73 years old from 2006 as long as they pass the medical examination. The medical examination is required on a biennial basis for those from 50 to 65 years old and on an annual basis for above 65 years old. For the group from 70 to 73 years old, there is an additional special test conducted by qualified occupational therapists with two components i.e. off-road tests and on-road driving assessment. The tests include reaction times, vision, cognitive abilities, physical control of vehicle, etc.

I wonder if HE at 68 years old could pass the special test … Should LTA consider lowering the age limit for the requirement of the special test?

April 23 – 29 is the United Nations Global Road Safety Week. I am pleasantly surprised to read the articles in the Sunday Times about how the Traffic Police tackles the road safety for motorcyclists. Motorcyclist fatalities contributed significantly to the total fatalities in 2006. The article describes how the Uncles and Aunties may pull the speeding and wreckless motorcyclists over and give them a lecture on Road Safety instead of issuing them a summon. The guilty motorcyclists should realize that the law enforcers are concerned about their well-being and do not want to have more dead bodies on the road.

I have personally observed that LTA and Traffic Police have changed their approach in improving Road Safety through one example of one accident black spot – barrier was set up along the road divider at Boon Lay Way some years back to block pedestrians going between Jurong East MRT/Bus Interchange and IMM Shopping Mall. The intention is to encourage more pedestrians to use a nearby overhead bridge. However, one has to go away from the direction of IMM to cross the bridge and thus, take a much longer walk. I then started seeing many pedestrians climbing over the barrier and some had even landed onto the edge of the road after they jumped over the barrier, resulting in some very scary moments for themselves and approaching motorists. Some months back, LTA finally installed a traffic light at that point and made an opening in the barrier – I applaude the new approach even though my drive may be interrupted by yet another traffic light along Boon Lay Way.

Pedestrians should be patient to wait for the “green man” signal to come on before they cross the road. The new problem that I notice at that black spot is that impatient pedestrians would just dash across when possible and ignorant followers are surprised by fast approaching vehicles. Thus, I would always slow down when approaching traffic signals even though it is green in my favour.

Drive safely, not just this week, but all the time in your motoring life!