I just spent a total of 11 days in Taipei and Ho Chi Minh City very recently and boy am I amazed at their traffic!
Ho Chi Minh City
(Didn’t manage to get pictures of the traffic in Taipei)
Seriously none of the cities are anywhere to close Singapore in terms of development and orderly-ness. But first-world Singapore has one glaring weakness compared to these 2 cities: our traffic.
In Taipei, I can always get a cab within 3 mins anywhere, anytime! Even right after the biggest IT show of the year.
No impossible taxi queues! I think my average waiting time for the more than 20 taxis I took in Taipei must have been only 2mins+!
Now compare this to Singapore’s cab situation which has caused quite a bit of buzz on the Singapore blogosphere recently.
On the other hand, Ho Chi Minh is like cowboy town and the incredibly busy traffic sometimes makes you wonder if Bush is gonna bring the American troops to invade Vietnam again soon?
But even then, I noticed one glaring strength compared to Singapore: Riders and driver are all patient and they don’t curse and swear in the worse of traffic! Well, at least from all the rides I’ve seen so far.
Now compare this to the driving attitudes you’ve seen here in Singapore.
Hmmmm…. you tell me, am I making sense here?
6 Comments
December 18, 2007 at 7:54 pm
Yes I agree! Fully agree!!! 101% agree!!!!!!!
December 18, 2007 at 11:43 pm
Actually to tell you the truth, the taxi experiences I had in Taiwan were just wonderful. Very courteous and willing to go the extra mile for tourists. Nothing compared to Singapore though..so far, I have seen absolutely nothing positive about our cabbie situation.
And the traffic in Singapore..aiyo..dun get me started..keke..
maybe we should all move out eh? ~evil thought~
December 19, 2007 at 9:24 am
[...] ERPains, Trains & Automobiles – Highway of Life: I think Singapore’s traffic is worse than Ho Chi Minh and Taipei! [...]
December 19, 2007 at 9:29 am
Took a short trip to HCMC over the weekend and I was shocked when I was on the road. Everyone was horning and squeezing their way through on the road but never I saw one driver/rider being upset or angry about the horns and overtaking. I wouldn’t say the traffic there is better, cos it was quite an experience for me as I spent 99% of my time there on foot. Crossing the road there sure takes alot of courage if you know what I mean. But the drivers and riders there are 110% better than those found here. I can imagine all the swear words from people I know if they should be driving there. Haha!
December 22, 2007 at 6:28 pm
eh all the riders stop behind the line leh, while waiting for green light.
Here, ALL motorist will stop at the zebra line..sigh…before green light they already zoom out..
January 12, 2008 at 8:54 pm
[...] As crazy as it is, I must say I’m very impressed with the Indian drivers and at least you can flag a cab down anywhere, anytime, unlike Singapore. [...]