Private-hire Drivers experience all kind of people on the road everyday.
Here are the Top 5 problems encountered on a daily basis.
Overload
Riders assume that they are slim enough to acrobatically squeeze into any car, just to save the extra dollars from booking a proper 6-seater ride (UberXL/ 6-Seater Economy) or a 13-seater when they bring the whole kampung along.
We also do not know where some riders got their information from but they assume that 2 kids = 1 adult and child/infant do not count as a passenger.
Crazy expectations
This is a common problem during the peak hours. Riders living in their own perfect world expect you to get them to their destinations in a timing that not even Lewis Hamilton can do it. They would board the car and tell you that they have 30 minutes for you to get them from Jurong West to the Airport.
Picking-up riders in the CBD can be frustrating. Drivers often are stuck in long queues turning into the heavily congested pick-up points like Marina Bay Financial Centre, Asia Square etc. Riders would get so impatient and start asking the dumb questions like where are you and why are you taking so long when they themselves know how terrible traffic is.
Pick-up at Taxi Stands and Bus lane
The title speaks for itself. After so long, riders are still not educated that pick-up at Taxi-Stands, bus lanes and bus stops are not allowed for private-hire cars. Drivers are under constant monitoring by their taxi counterparts where their taxi company urged taxi drivers to sabo private-hire pick-up at taxi-stands.
Drivers are also confused to why they are not allowed at taxi-stand pickup when the population of private-hire cars have far outstripped taxis.
Cheapo behaviour
These are the common cheapo behaviour that irks drivers
- Late charge – Grab riders who booked a JustGrab trip are entitled to 5 minutes of waiting time. Waiting charge of $3 per 5 minutes would apply after the initial 5 minutes. Many riders who were informed of the late charge would simply cancel the trip when they are informed that they will be charged. Uber drivers would not face this problem as Uber charges rider for waiting beyond three minutes.
- Additional stop charge – In short, rider wants to go 3 multiple destinations but only want to pay 1 destination fare
- Surge Dodger – Rider book a nearby address which is out of the surge zone then message Driver of the correct address in order to pay lesser fare
- ERP Dodger – Rider insist on driver to go by the longer route to save on their ERP
- GrabShare/UberPool but no sharing or pooling allowed – Want cheap but do not want to share
Child Seat
The biggest problem that every private-hire driver will face. The law stipulates that all human being below the height of 1.35m must be seated on a booster seat or secured in a child seat. Both Uber and Grab have each launched their family-friendly service in Uber Car Seat and GrabFamily to cater to the need of the people but many riders travelling with their child/infant still refused to book the service.
When drivers reject riders travelling with kids and infant, they are often shouted at with the same phrase.
