The_King Posted February 22 Share Posted February 22 SINGAPORE - Waiting almost three hours for a taxi ride from the Singapore Airshow to her hotel was not something Ms Inga Duglas, a senior corporate executive, expected after attending the first day of the show on Feb 20. When she eventually got into a taxi, her fare from Changi Exhibition Centre, where the show is taking place till Feb 25, to central Singapore at 7.30pm came to $120, said Ms Duglas, expressing surprise her ride would be “so expensive”. “I was hungry, thirsty and exhausted,” the 38-year-old told The Straits Times on the evening of Feb 21. The 2024 edition of the biennial aerospace and defence exhibition has been drawing complaints about the heavy traffic in and out of the showgrounds, with some visitors telling ST traffic arrangements were poorly organised. The first four days of the show, from Feb 20 to 23, is for trade attendees. The show is open to the public on the last two days, on Feb 24 and 25. Ms Duglas was among 23 trade visitors and exhibitors interviewed by ST about their experience getting into and out of the showgrounds. Some said they had to endure several kilometres of crawling traffic into the exhibition centre due to reduced access to Aviation Park Road and Tanah Merah Coast Road, as well as the inability to secure private-hire car and taxi rides to and from Changi Exhibition Centre. Others spoke of the sky-high fares for these rides, and the long queues for the airshow shuttle, which plies between Singapore Expo and the exhibition centre. Visitors have to pay a location surcharge of $15, on top of the metered fare, for taxi services leaving Changi Exhibition Centre until Feb 25. Commercial executive Stanley Raj, 45, said this is the “worst transportation experience” he has had, when compared with other airshows he had visited, including the Paris Air Show in June 2023 and the Dubai Airshow in November 2023. To exit the showgrounds on Feb 21 at around 5pm, Mr Raj waited more than 35 minutes for his private-hire car ride. That morning, his ride to the exhibition centre was stuck in a 45-minute jam because of lane closures and security checkpoints. Some airshow visitors said they had to endure several kilometres of crawling traffic into the exhibition centre. ST PHOTO: AZMI ATHNI Ms Jayne Low, who is part of an exhibitor’s team that drove to the Singapore Airshow, said she was caught in traffic for about 20 minutes at around 9am on Feb 21. This was because officers slowed traffic down significantly by checking the identities of all passengers in each vehicle with a parking label, said the managing director in her 40s. Ms Low, who has attended several editions of the Singapore Airshow, added: “It is the same thing for every edition... If they can manage (vehicular) traffic for Coldplay fans, they can surely do this for the airshow.” ST reporters heading to the show experienced several instances of private-hire car drivers cancelling their rides to the exhibition centre on Feb 21 and 22. Part-time private-hire car driver George Liow, 37, told ST most drivers would not travel specially to the venue for a single fare, as they would need to navigate the jam and detours. He added: “Who in the right mind would come in all the way to the venue to pick someone up for a small sum of money?” Attendees disembark from shuttle buses at the Singapore Airshow on Feb 22. ST PHOTO: AZMI ATHNI Traffic appeared to have improved slightly on Feb 22, with the stream of vehicles heading into the exhibition grounds moving faster than in previous days. Mr Arie Cahya, a 29-year-old procurement executive who took a taxi into the showgrounds, said the traffic was smoother on Feb 22 than the day before, when he was stuck in a gridlock at 9am for half an hour. ST has contacted the airshow organiser, Experia Events, for comment. Some 50,000 trade visitors are expected to attend the first four days of the event, and more than 60,000 public visitors are set to throng the Changi showgrounds over the Feb 24 and 25 weekend. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XianGe Posted February 22 Share Posted February 22 Since charging visitors might as well add in shuttle... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coffee_O Posted February 23 Share Posted February 23 where are all the dumb fucks who say our taxis and PHV are much cheaper than london, Japan...etc. Go tell them that lah and quit whinning. anyway i thought our govt says our transport system is world crass? LOL btw who the hell visit airshow nowadays? so bo liao. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aaur4man Posted February 23 Share Posted February 23 i got friend PHV driver say kena $50 fare to go in also just reject Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ManOfTheHour Posted February 23 Share Posted February 23 Any event at Changi Expo is a chore 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XianGe Posted February 23 Share Posted February 23 31 minutes ago, Coffee_O said: where are all the dumb fucks who say our taxis and PHV are much cheaper than london, Japan...etc. Go tell them that lah and quit whinning. anyway i thought our govt says our transport system is world crass? LOL btw who the hell visit airshow nowadays? so bo liao. Greed from gov, grab, grab drivers has pushed up the price till siao... But still hab gen z who take grab without blinking... Maybe tis ish huai gotchthe unofficial telegram ride booking. Imo should stop PHV and push all to CDG 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XianGe Posted February 23 Share Posted February 23 28 minutes ago, aaur4man said: i got friend PHV driver say kena $50 fare to go in also just reject They wan the sky Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coffee_O Posted February 23 Share Posted February 23 Just now, XianGe said: Greed from gov, grab, grab drivers has pushed up the price till siao... But still hab gen z who take grab without blinking... Maybe tis ish huai gotchthe unofficial telegram ride booking. Imo should stop PHV and push all to CDG Like i always said. the moment transport fare is dictate by supply and demand, surely the drivers will wait till high demand then drive pushing the fare to ridiculous pricing. If i am millionaires i will open a company to employ drivers paid monthly with comission to drive thus weakening the market of supply and demand. but of cos all the MIW cronies will come in and destroy my company same as what they did to uber. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XianGe Posted February 23 Share Posted February 23 Just now, Coffee_O said: Like i always said. the moment transport fare is dictate by supply and demand, surely the drivers will wait till high demand then drive pushing the fare to ridiculous pricing. If i am millionaires i will open a company to employ drivers paid monthly with comission to drive thus weakening the market of supply and demand. but of cos all the MIW cronies will come in and destroy my company same as what they did to uber. Chiur idea late liao... CDG already offering drivers tis monthly paid... Chiu nid get 'buy high sell low' to invest in chiur company.. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coffee_O Posted February 23 Share Posted February 23 (edited) 11 minutes ago, XianGe said: Chiur idea late liao... CDG already offering drivers tis monthly paid... Chiu nid get 'buy high sell low' to invest in chiur company.. But the salary offered by CDG is ridiculous. really ish no dignity. if you put 3k with commission i'm sure alot of drivers will switch to work for you also i have thought of this since more than 5 year ago leh. just no money to implement haha Edited February 23 by Coffee_O 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XianGe Posted February 23 Share Posted February 23 11 minutes ago, Coffee_O said: But the salary offered by CDG is ridiculous. really ish no dignity. if you put 3k with commission i'm sure alot of drivers will switch to work for you also i have thought of this since more than 5 year ago leh. just no money to implement haha Ya saw somewhere ish notch high Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coffee_O Posted February 23 Share Posted February 23 1 minute ago, XianGe said: Ya saw somewhere ish notch high i think its only abt 1.8k before CPF KNN work at fastfood also maybe can get higher sia 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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