Singapore rides to rescue of local cabs by out-Ubering Uber Singapore's Land Transport Authority (LTA) has found a way to out-Uber Uber, by launching a taxi-finding app of its own. The famously well-regulated island city state already has one of the tightest taxi regimes on the planet, as cabs can only use designated ranks within the central business district. If you're not on a rank, …
"High local prices" = $100K USD for a Toyota Corolla. That alone would damage the business model of private cars moonlighting for Uber. Also, Singapore regulations bar anyone who's not a citizen (and has a taxi license, analogous to a hackney license) from operating a taxi.
I did use Uber several times in Singapore - and frankly I got jalopies. The official cabs (there are only 3 or 4 cab companies, and the largest - ComfortDelGro - has 16000 cabs) were actually in generally better shape than the Ubers I took.
Comfort also has a booking app, though it's nowhere as slick as Uber's app. But it gets the job done. And because Comfort has about 70% of the cabs on the road, the government / LTA app isn't really needed so much (it only adds another 30% coverage).
Don't mince your words - Singapore is a dictatorship, just like China, etc.
SP (Singapore) is flat-out a dictatorship with all the necessary trappings of such countries from secret police (using Tetra radios), to constant monitoring (and blocking) of the InterNet and telephone systems.
Every aspect of SP residents lives are collected and stored in government computers. They use 'block-busting' techniques to move voters around that would make US gerry-mandering look tame.
Censorship is rife, due to electronic newspaper publication they can no longer stop and cut-up newspapers at Customs. Radio reception is difficult in the tropics and a decent HF antenna sure gets the wrong people's attention.
I was 'posted' there for a 11 month work stint but I refused to live there, prefering Malaysia as it is not so authoritarian. A short commute on the subway was time enough to read all the news that fits.
Australian Signals Directorate, along with GCHQ, NSA and Singaporean 'intelligence' agencies tap undersea fibre optic telecommunications cables that link Asia, the Middle East and Europe and Australia.
Their favourite target, the SEA-ME-WE-3 cable, lands at Tuas on the western side of Singapore Island. Access to the SEA-ME-WE-3 cable is via Singapore's government-owned operator SingTel.
GCHQ used to hang out at Chia Keng 2 (CK2) but have now moved to a military base whose name begins with K and is located in one of the 'highest' parts of SP. They also have air-conditing as opposed to the olds fans.
What I thought was most telling was a comment I overheard from an adjacent table of Singy guys in a SaiGon pho (noodle) shop was when one said: 'I feel so free here (la). I can't believe it (la)'.
Commuting between Johor Bahru (JB) Malaysia and Singapore (SG - who uses SP for Singapore?) is not a short commute unless you only factor in distance. Going through Malaysian and Singaporean immigration twice a day at rush hour is just daft if you don't need to.
Much simpler to live/work in Singapore and then escape at the weekend.
The older generations in Singapore are quite happy with the government - they actually came through on their promises to turn the country round from the shit hole it was immediately after independence. They know who buttered their bread.
The younger generations who don't have that immediate memory of how bad things were are expecting change and change will slowly come.
Malaysia is generally more laid back than SG but the country is an Islamic state and the government do interfere in many aspects of life. The government is also highly corrupt, the leadership being quite happy to throw opposition leaders in jail on trumped up charges
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-26479642
The Singaporean guys"freedom" you're talking of will be from societal constraints which in conservative middle class professional Singapore prevent you from properly just kicking back and relaxing. Image in Singapore is everything.
As someone who has lived in Singers too, the earlier post about Singapore being a dictatorship is exactly spot on.
Not that I am a big fan of Uber, there is definitely no way Singapore will have anything closely resembling Uber when the taxi companies are simply a cartel controlled by the "first family". Singapore is full of little theatrics like this as the old guard pretends it is hip and progressive.
As a Singaporean citizen living in Singapore, I find the comments by foreigners absolutely hilarious! It's always the same old snarky remarks about how Singapore is a "repressive regime". Do share some personal anecdotes about how the "dictorship" has intruded into your personal space and civil liberties. I'm pretty sure you'll be hard pressed to find some.
As a Singaporean citizen living in Singapore, I find the comments by foreigners absolutely hilarious!!! It's always the same old snarky remarks about how Singapore is a "repressive regime". Do share some personal anecdotes about how the "dictorship" has intruded into your personal space and civil liberties. I'm pretty sure you'll be hard pressed to find some.
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