(note the spelling which may often be British English in form despite the predominant English accent in Singapore being North American).
Eh? The Singaporean accent is quite distinct from either of these, but when Singaporeans are being formal it's British English to which they aspire, not American. I don't think I've ever heard a Singaporean speak with an American accent.
Eh? The Singaporean accent is quite distinct from either of these, but when Singaporeans are being formal it's British English to which they aspire, not American. I don't think I've ever heard a Singaporean speak with an American accent.
And most of the time, the singaporean speaks singlish.
The taxi driver will return your change back to the penny. Taxi drivers are not tipped.
While you are technically absolutely correct in this... taxi drivers in Singapore work inhumane shifts, earn peanuts and have been hard hit by the economic downturn. There are no private taxis, so the drivers assume all the risk on the company's behalf, since they have to pay the car rental whether they earn money or not. They have no leave, no pension, no insurance. An engrossing read: http://taxidiary.blogspot.com/
So these days, if I get a good driver, I tip. Trust me, they appreciate it.
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I find taxis in SIN very good value, so even with the surcharge it's not really something I think about before getting in. Taxis are my primary mode of transport (partially due to my laziness).
A couple of useful tips are to call for taxis (there is an 'all-taxi' hotline, but I just use 6552-1111 for Comfort/Citycab) booking. Their system remembers you by CLI, tells you the cab number that's been assigned, and how long it will be. You can also SMS for bookings. Both of these cost a little extra ($2.50 offpeak/$3.20 for peak bookings, I think).
If you're looking for how to get to around by public transport/want to know approximate cab fare, gothere.sg is pretty useful as well. You can enter addresses or just zip codes - most buildings in Singapore have a unique zip code - and get bus/MRT/taxi directions and prices. The site also works well on mobile devices.
As for tipping - I don't, but I will round the fare up to the nearest dollar or so.
This would not have been presented to you if I had not personally used it and validated it a number of times. It is quite accurate and I sincerely believe can be relied upon.
It was not just a random google search result but a verified thru use site. And thru use, I mean actually sitting in a taxi between the two points and verifying the actual meter charges. The only variation is in waiting time at traffic lights and in traffic.
No offense guys but who cares that much about a taxi meter website that they feel compelled to defend how thorough a traveler they are by citing it as evidence. Chill out.
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