What a brilliant idea!

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UBERX (Commuters)

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I am writing this as a commuter point of view using UberX.

Why I think UberX will a brilliant idea and will be successful in Singapore and will be the next big thing in transportation

Matching demand & supply
It's a on demand service, just like video-on-demand (VOD) on cable TV. For VOD, you watch the show at a time convenient to you, anytime of the day, even at 3am. You don't have to adjust your schedule to match the timing of the show.

Similarly, for UberX, you can get a cab when you want it. You don't have to wait and see if there is any cab roaming around your area. All bookings are done by the UberX app, all are matching the supply to the demand. Gone are the time when you wait for half an hour and you just couldn't get a cab on the road or through the hotline. Great for business meeting where you need to be on time, all the time!

Even if you are in a situation where demand hugely exceeds supply, for example, after a concert / football match, after partying at a pub, Uber have a surge pricing ('X' amount of the normal price). This encourages drivers to come to your area to pick passengers up and if you are willing to pay, you will likely be able to get a car out of the situation.

Taxi drivers
UberX will probably be less successful if taxi drivers are not included in their business. But they are. Instead of competing directly with taxi drivers on the road (difference between taxi drivers and Uber X drivers being you can flag down a taxi along the road but you cannot flag down a UberX), they included taxi drivers in their equation and this increases their number of drivers / vehicles on the road thus better enabling them to match demand and supply.

With taxi drivers their partner, their real competition they have is really with taxi companies and and will force taxi companies to think of other ways to match the competition if their drivers jump ship to Uber. I will talk about this more on UberX (Drivers)

Cashless cardless payment
One of the limitation of not taking a cab is usually you do not have enough cash in your wallet. Sure, more cabs companies are accepting cards but not all companies does. When commuters are able to swipe with their cards, they will likely be more willing to take cabs (spend now think later mentality). Therefore Uber address this problem beautifully by having the payment on the backend and you basically get up and down the car without even thinking about money or your wallet.

For drivers, they avoid fare evasion commutes which I will talk more about on UberX (Drivers)

Private cars
What UberX called 'Scale down limo service'. While personally I am ok with taking taxi or car as long as it get me there to my destination, there are some people who needs to be disassociated with taxis. For example, getting off a BMW 520i (UberExec) is so much better than getting off a Mercedes E220d (taxi) especially when you are meeting your potential client at the entrance of his building.

Of course UberX has the same effect as long as you don't mind your car to be a Toyota or a Nissan instead of a BMW or a Merc.

Past and Present
In the past where there aren't so many people in the country, taxis are sufficient and there is never almost never a long wait for a taxi. If you can't get a taxi on the road, call one and likely a taxi will come in 10 mins or less. However now, when you try to call any taxi company hotline,  there is a chance that they tell you: "Sorry, no taxi around your area. Please call again later" That's like usually 10 mins of your time on the phone.

Go to a taxi stand and you will see queues at even off peak timing of the day (3-4pm)

Also the weather in Singapore are getting crazier too with hotter days (just why you think now all buses are air-conditioned) and more people are switching to taxis because they cannot stand the heat. Put it this way, more people are willing to pay a premium to get out of an uncomfortable situation.

Government
The government initiative is for people not to own car but take public transport or shared transport, so I think the government should encourage not only public buses, trains but also companies like Uber and car sharing companies. While they provide private vehicles services, its a more efficient use of these vehicles.

In conclusion, let's put it this way,  more people are willing to pay a premium to get out of an uncomfortable situation, be it overcrowding or hot weather or sick of waiting for a prolong period of time.

And for a few dollars extra (for no peak pricing) or even for a few dollars less (for surcharge places with peak pricing), UberX being very likely to have a car pick you up within mins, it's really a no brainer which to choose, especially if time is precious for you.

Rates
As at 15 Jul 2015, UberX charges $3.50 base fare + $0.25 per min + $0.50 per km.
Rates are flat and there are no peak period pricing / additional surcharge.

Taxi pricing are
$3.50 (average) base fare (1st KM)    3.50
1 to 10km every 400m - $0.22            4.95
10km and above every 350m - $0.22  6.30
Every 45 sec waiting time - $0.22
Surcharges apply when applicable.

Hi Keen....

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SMRT NSEW line breakdown / disruption 7 Jul 2015 (Uber)

What's different from this 2015 major disruption and the 2011 disruption is there is an additional alternatives to bring commuters home other than taxis - UBER.

Although scrutinised by some, personally I think it is a good idea as it very effectively match demand and supply using technology. On period of high demands like Friday, Saturday night, their Uber X (sedan car), Uber XL (MPV) and Uber Exec (luxury cars) inject in more supply to meet the demands. 

It could be a little more expensive but whats a few dollars extra compared to standing along the street for half an hour or more trying to get a cab . Hence its perfect for people who are willing to spend money to get out of the situation (of can't getting a cab). I am sure there will be some who will be willing to wait an hour for a cab, but that's not what we are going into,

Whenever there is an high demand, Uber charges a surge depending on how demand exceed supply. The surge is a multiplier which multiply to the actual amount that you pay on a normal day. For example, if your ride from town to Clementi cost $20 on a weeknight without surge, and the surge from town on weekend nights is at 3X, you will need to pay $60 for the same ride (same distance, same time taken)

Back to the disruption on 7 Jul 2015, naturally, without the trains services there is a extremely high demand of cabs at all the train stations.
With no trains, extremely high demand and people wanting to get home quickly, surge escalated upwards quickly to 5X or 6X. 

While its crazy to pay $120 for a ride home, for some people who critically need to be at a certain place on time, its a way out for them, For example, if you cannot afford to take urgent leave and you need to report for night shift duty at 10pm. Or you need to pick up your child before the childcare closes. Or maybe you are super tired after 20 hours of work and just want to get out of the situation,

Comparing back to 2011 disruptions again, in 2011, you are left with no choice (even when you say $200 in your wallet which you are willing to spend on taxi). All you can hope is to call and call again taxi companies and hope they can get you a cab and although you don't believe that you will get a cab after looking around you, you will just suck thumb and keep calling. Phone bill goes up too! 

Hence Uber provides a solution to what used to be a 'no choice but to be stuck there' situation. You don't have to pay or use uber if you don't want to, but for those who are willing to pay, it's just a few clicks on your smartphone away.

SMRT NSEW line breakdown / disruption 7 Jul 2015 (Affected public transport commuters)

The 2nd major train breakdown since 2011. 

Although the breakdown in 2011 train services were resumed only the next day (longer), this breakdown affected the NS and EW line (read: WHOLE Singapore). So which is more serious, you decide yourself.

I am sure you have all the facts from the mainstream news, social newsfeeds, media, etc already so I am not going into that

Instead I will give my 2 cents on some of the issues / suggestions on what could be done.

People affected were not only those on the trains and waiting to board the trains but also those who took buses (with no intention of taking trains). My mum was one of them and she wanted to take a bus home after work. However, due to the spill off of people from the train stations, she had to wait a few buses to go by before she can board one.  Quite a notable amount of her time is spent on waiting for the bus.And even the bus she boarded, it was extremely crowded.

While free (no cost to commuters) shuttle buses were deployed as an alternative services to train services, the queues are ridiculously long (1 single deck bus can carry less than 100 passengers while 1 train can carry 1000 passengers). It is no wonder many people gave up and went to take other bus services that calls at their MRT stop.

I am not very sure if these bus services are free but even if they are, it is only free at the bus stop at the MRT station. The rest of the bus stops are not. 

Since train disruption affects the both train and bus commuters (even taxi commuters but I dont want to go into that) why not make public transport free for that few hours? People will have more choices and do not need to rely solely on the free shuttle buses. Those bus passengers affected will also get some sort of compensation of a free bus ride. 

You may be asking, all buses islandwide free who will pay for the cost? Afterall, it is not SBS Transit's fault and they should not be penalised.

Yes, i agree, SBST has done a good job be it in trains and buses and should not be penalised However, dont forget that after all the investigations, LTA will have impose a penalty on the disrupted train operator. Instead of specifying a fixed amount like S$1 million for 2011 disruption, the penalty will be that the penalised operator to pay for all trips made by commuters during this period of down time. I think it's win-win because LTA don't get accused of always fining the operator with no benefits to commuters and commuters get compensated for inconvenience by getting free rides.(Its probably insufficient but again its better than nothing) 

And talking about fines  I don't understand why the authorities fine the transport operators like normal companies. Whenever there is a fine, in the operator's books, it will be reflected likely as a expenditure=cost and after a while they will say cost is increasing and they need to submit a request to increase fare. Maybe there should be special treatment for these operators to pay their fines from their NET PROFIT so that their cost wouldn't be affected.  This way, they will be more motivated to ensure a smooth running system as pressure will come from their shareholders. 

Boob - The word

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Creative!!!

Durians Durians Durians

(Taken from the internet)

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Since this is the durian seasons in South East Asia, here are the type of durians commonly available.

Science Teacher

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