Simei, Sin Meng & SMRT
I just got back from a weekend with my best friends in Singapore. Here's my letter to SMRT (a Singaporean taxi operator) regarding a taxi journey on Sunday.
Dear SMRT,
The following email highlights my recent journey with an SMRT taxi, of which the experience exceeded my expectations despite the initial dissatisfaction.
My partner and I boarded the taxi with registration number SHB5507S near Neptune Court, on Sunday, December 16, around 2:15pm. The intended alighting point was Simei Street 1, which I mentioned to the driver upon boarding. Being weekend travelers from Kuala Lumpur, we were not familiar with the routes, but were happy that the driver asked us if it was okay to use the CTE, of which we duly acknowledged while stating that we preferred the fastest route.
As the journey progressed the meter fare and travel time exceeded our initial estimates. We then realised that the driver had taken us towards the Sin Meng area. At this point the fare was already about $12+, as compared to $8 when we traveled earlier in the afternoon (Simei - Neptune Court).
Upon clarification that we intended to go to Simei and not Sin Meng, the driver was unable to provide us with a travel time estimate, but assured us that he would get us there in the fastest time. At this point our itinerary was in disarray as we had spent over 20 minutes in the taxi, and were due to board a bus out of Singapore at 4:30pm from Novena Square.
Upon finally arriving at our destination in Simei, the meter fare was around $23. The driver apologised for the inconvenience, and offered to accept a fare similar to what we had paid for the past journey. We offered $10, but he refused and only took $8.
We were comforted by this act of genuine kindness, and acknowledge that even though it was an inconvenience, it could have very well been an honest error.
We would like to thank the driver for making the journey a memorable experience, and for getting us to our destination safely. Many a times we hear stories of unfriendly and dishonest taxi drivers, but not on this encounter. I believe this SMRT experience under the circumstances is a worthy benchmark to emulate.
It is definitely a "uniquely Singapore experience", and we look forward to riding with SMRT again on our next visit.
Thank you,
Praveen Rajan
Labels: letters, singapore, travel, user experience
posted by Praveen at
1:20 AM
4 Comments:
Such a wonderful experience, but then again, I've always loved S'pore - it's cabbies, people, and just the general feeling of being in the country (feeling SAFE!).
I hate ur word verification, whenever I wanna comment, sure super LONG one.
@tsulin: OK, I hear you! I've turned off the word verification for comments to make it easier. As to why it was turned on in the first place, point to this article. Something to do with comment spam & bots, but I doubt my blog is eligible for that sort of traffic +)
Now, how's that for a positive user experience? Don't you just love immediate & instant gratification?
Not trying to spill cold water - but we all know that taxi- flaming has been the order of the day. Senses are heightened, spotcheck frequencies are increased, and consumers have greater tendency now to report any cases of malpractice. (tauting etc)
So it might be a case of pre emptive action. be nice, or esle they will com-prain about you. And rest assured the taxi companies will respond swiftly to such complaints.
But of course, if it is truly a simply unvarnished act of altruism, then i salute the cab driver. We must give credit where its due.
@praveen : Yessiree, thank u very much! I myself am reluctant to turn off word verification, not because my blog has more traffic n hence the comment spam, but because I kena a few times and find it annoying..
But to answer your question : Yes, very positive user experience indeed!
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