j0055
designated Taxi queue
No surprise that the government designates Taxi queues like an amusement park designates queues for rides. In fact, to flag down a taxi outside the designated que, you must pay a "flagdown fee" of about $2.50.
When I first came here, I thought that most singaporeans would take a taxi rather than walk 15 minutes. I can't tell whether that is the cause or the effect of Singapore having no grid system, but luckily no street is without a network of sidewalks, catwalks for crossing busy streets, and even frequent railings to make the pedestrian more comfortable among the recklessly overeager lane-changers in their clean cars. Singapore is clean--not astonishingly clean, but clean. Yet the cars here are impossibly clean. I never see a single car that is not immaculate. Parking garages look like dealership showrooms.
[update - some of my colleagues disagree with me, but I now think singaporeans are as likely to walk the city as residents of DC or NY would be. This varies with the individual, of course, but DC and NY have plenty of unwilling pedestrians. I'm the outlier for my inclination to cover miles on foot rather than using the provided transportation (children point at me from their carseats and ask, "why is that man walking?"). Yet I get to know these cities pretty quickly by walking everywhere.]
designated Taxi queue
No surprise that the government designates Taxi queues like an amusement park designates queues for rides. In fact, to flag down a taxi outside the designated que, you must pay a "flagdown fee" of about $2.50.
When I first came here, I thought that most singaporeans would take a taxi rather than walk 15 minutes. I can't tell whether that is the cause or the effect of Singapore having no grid system, but luckily no street is without a network of sidewalks, catwalks for crossing busy streets, and even frequent railings to make the pedestrian more comfortable among the recklessly overeager lane-changers in their clean cars. Singapore is clean--not astonishingly clean, but clean. Yet the cars here are impossibly clean. I never see a single car that is not immaculate. Parking garages look like dealership showrooms.
[update - some of my colleagues disagree with me, but I now think singaporeans are as likely to walk the city as residents of DC or NY would be. This varies with the individual, of course, but DC and NY have plenty of unwilling pedestrians. I'm the outlier for my inclination to cover miles on foot rather than using the provided transportation (children point at me from their carseats and ask, "why is that man walking?"). Yet I get to know these cities pretty quickly by walking everywhere.]