Taxi Affair
It’s been more than a month I never posted my blog. Well, not that free actually. Absence of internet connection in my stayin’ place in KL was the main hindrance (or you call it "excuse", I dun mind), and dunno why juz dun really have my own time durin’ weekend. Nevermind, since I’ve nothin’ much to say anyway.But there’s somethin’ I muz share it here…
A couple of weeks ago, I’ve made an appointment with my friend to meet in Kelana Jaya LRT station. As my workin’ place is famous for "awful" bus service (it’s Triton btw), all I can do is to take a taxi to KL Central. But takin’ a taxi alone is extravagant, and it really burn a hole in my pocket. Thank God that one of my colleague he’s headin’ that way, so I cud share the taxi with him (at least 2 ppl sharin’ is much better).
So we happened to be at the taxi station, seekin’ for a taxi. Askin’ around if there’s anyone goin’ that direction so that we can share. Not very lucky, only 2 of us. Since taxi plays the main role in public transportation in that area, it’s not difficult to grab a taxi at all. So after gettin’ aboard we started our conversation ’bout sharin’ taxi. I was told that usually there’re lots of ppl "pooling" taxi to get to KL Central. This is a wise idea indeed~~!!.
Perhaps the taxi driver heard what we’re talkin’, so right after he took a U-turn, he stopped by and ask a pedestrian standin’ by the road, whether she’s goin’ to KL Central, too. What a co-incident, she nodded and hopped in to the front passenger seat (we’re sittin’ behind). From the reflection of the rear mirror, I can see the taxi driver smilin’ happily, lookin’ at me. So kind of him, he’s try to save money for me. It took me 3 seconds before something flash over my mind: Oh ya! All-in it’s 3 pessengers in the taxi, he can earn extra 20cents. But weird! How come make extra 20 cents smilin’ so happy? 
Nothing happens along the way…………until we reach KL Central.
<deet> The meter showed 7.20. This journey cost us RM7.20, so average it’s RM2.40. Whoaaa…so happy, it’s juz slightly dearer than takin’ bus (bus fair is RM2.00 per trip). So much comfortable (nonid to wait for bus) and luxury (only 3 of us, instead of squeezin’ into the bus of a hundred ppl). I was really happy that moment but it juz didn’t last until I saw an astonishin’ phenomenon…
The gal sittin’ in front gave a 5 ringgit note to the taxi driver, then the taxi driver took it and said "OK!". The gal juz left the car. OMG~~!! What happened. That very moment I was really stunned. What man? RM5? I thought it was RM7.20 for the whole journey? I’m really blur. And then I heard the taxi driver spoke to my colleague:
Taxi Driver : Enam ringgit la (Six ringgit)
Colleague : Encik, lima boleh la… (Sir, make it five bucks)
Taxi Driver : Tak boleh la, enam dah murah loh…(Nope, 6 bucks is very cheap)
That moment I was really really blur…What the heck is happenin’? Ain’t I suppose to pay RM3.60 the most? I juz take RM5 from my wallet and pay the taxi driver. He took my RM5 and RM1 from my colleague. Then we juz left the taxi. I juz can’t understand what was happenin’. Who the heck in this world can tell me what’s goin’ on?
When we’re walkin’ towards LRT station, my colleague explained to me…
"If 3 person sharin’ a taxi, indeed the total amount is divided by 3, a normal calculation. However, this situation is slightly different. 2 of us is sharin’ the taxi, so the price would be divided by 2, while another pessenger was called by the taxi driver, so she should pay the full amount. Of course, he’ll give some so-called discount. The theory is : if only both of us take the ride, it’d be RM3.60 rite? But he only charged us RM3 each. Whilst the gal should be takin’ the taxi alone, so by rite she’d be paying the full amount of RM7.20, but she was charged RM5 only. Sounds logic?" 
Yeah it’s dang logic. What an intelligent freak, the taxi driver is really excel in Maths. So let’s take a look at the calculation below: -
| Normal Calculation | If 1 pax is "invited" by the driver | ||||||||||||||||||
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| Amount Earn : RM 11.00 - RM 7.40 = RM 3.60 (extra 48.6%) | |||||||||||||||||||
Bugger, I shouldn’t have paid him that much of money. But my colleague consoled me, he said no one will know this kind of "rules" for the first time, so next time juz be very careful.
**Some of you might have experience before. And I dun mean that all taxi drivers are like that. I’m juz sharin’ what I experience.
