Vivocity Oct 15, 10pm CABBIES SAYING $25 LOUDLY was what a Stomper who sent in this photo overheard as she passed by the taxis.

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Their cars were parked a bit further down the road and they were standing around watching the taxi queue that had formed after midnight.

I was silly enough to ask if they were waiting for passengers (of course they were) and was asked where I wanted to go. Destination given, I was told they picked up only guests who were heading for hotels.

Perhaps the waiting had got to me, but I launched into a tirade about how they were supposed to pick up any passenger and don't they dare try to con me because, hey, I am Singaporean, not some unsuspecting tourist.

When I moved ahead to take down their licence plates, they promptly opened their car boots to stop me from doing so. I stopped in my tracks, facing the long-sleeved, white-shirted men who were supposed to be the cream of the cabby crop when limousine taxis were introduced here.

Sheepishly, I went back to the queue. What was worse was the pitying looks I got from those standing in line. Foreigners may not dare intervene, I quite understand, but locals, too?

The need for action We are paying a price for inaction - through high taxi fares and, more importantly, a bad reputation for this tourism hub. Do we want to be known as a city where taxi drivers rip off tourists?

Taxi touting has been around, yet it seems scant action is taken to clamp down on the cabbies' nefarious night-time swindle.

Which was why I read about the Land Transport Authority's blitz on errant cabbies with much satisfaction.

A month before, when The Sunday Times blew the lid on the practices with pictures, a team went with the LTA inspectors who were launching a crackdown. They netted a grand total of one cabby - on a Saturday night, too.

Cabbies had either been tipped off and had organised themselves to behave or, as one cabby said later, they had recognised the inspectors and cleared off.

In fact, The Sunday Times observed that there were actually middlemen who seemed to be relaying passengers to waiting taxis. There were even lookouts. Is this organised crime or what?

In interviews, the errant cabbies were unrepentant, flippantly recounting how much they can fleece foreigners by charging flat fees. Somehow, the fees all seemed to converge on $35 per trip.

It was too lucrative a deal for them to stop, especially when they can hop from taxi operator to taxi operator if they get sacked.

It seems then that the only way to stem this is to revoke their licence. The LTA gave an interesting list of penalties, which included revocation of licences if a cabby overcharged by more than $20. It seems to me many cabbies will lose their livelihood if rules were properly policed.

Cabbies argue that they and their passengers have a 'private' transaction and that it is nobody's business if someone wants to pay them more.

There is also an ingenious excuse that touting isn't touting if the bargaining takes place through an open window. But most of us non-drivers have little choice but to board a taxi after midnight when the buses and MRT trains stop plying. And there are those who are in no condition to drive after an inebriated night out.

I think there is only one argument from the taxi-drivers worth considering: that if you want to ride in a more comfortable taxi, you pay a lot more for the ride.

The flag-down rate for a Mercedes cab is $2.80 compared to $2.40 for a normal cab. Taxi operators might want to widen the fare difference. At least, it is regulated and fares are not set according to the whims and fancies of the cabby.

What makes me bristle with indignation is how some foreigners think it is quite natural that cabbies here tout, as is the practice in some neighbouring countries.

But what makes it worse is that it was two foreigners who wrote to The Straits Times Forum Pages, which started this current blitz going. Where were the locals?

A guard at Clarke Quay told The Straits Times he waves off touts all the time. He must be new, because I saw no evidence of such policing on the two nights I was there last month.

If the management decides that its guards should now chase such touts away, good for it.

But I wonder why the authorities let these cabbies and touts operate with impunity outside ferry terminals at HarbourFront and Tanah Merah. Is this a case of 'not my problem but LTA's'?

Are agencies working in the buildings too busy screening for illegal immigrants and catching travellers with unpaid duty items?

If the authorities are too strapped to do the policing, and taxi operators don't want to upset the status quo because the industry is so competitive, they can put up signs at taxi stands to say 'No Touting', like it's done for 'No Smoking'. And add a 'By Law'.

That way, foreigners will be clued in on the fact that we don't endorse such antics.

Ordinary Singaporeans can do something, too. It is in the nature of Singaporeans not to push themselves forward in the public eye, preferring to be spectators or to suffer in silence. Perhaps, some even think it is mostly foreigners who get conned anyway.

But we are paying a price for inaction - through high taxi fares and, more importantly, a bad reputation for this tourism hub. Do we want to be known as a city where taxi drivers rip off tourists?

Those who travel know how angry it makes us when foreign cabbies take us for a ride. It's one of the first tales we tell when we get home.

There is a call to action on The Straits Times interactive portal, Stomp, for people to send in pictures of taxi touts and errant cabbies.

If residents here are too worried or embarrassed about causing a commotion in public by confronting these cabbies, this is one private channel for them to expose the cabbies. Failing which, there is the LTA hotline 1800-225-5582. I hope it's ringing off the hook.

bertha@sph.com.sg