And then there was none... Photo

Photographer’s Note

This is what is known in Singapore as a Taxi Call Station. This particular Station is located in Changi Village.

In Singapore we have 2 types of cabbies - those who rent their cabs from a company and those who owns their own cabs. Amongst the 20 000 odd taxis on the road today, I believe less than 900 are still privately owned. The Land Transport Authority has stopped issuing private licences, and its hard for a privately owned cabbie to compete against corporations.

The Call Station as you see above serves as the despatch centre for owner-cabbies who are members and -
runs a taxi-booking service ( using CB radios - the big boys have automated sytems linked to GPS );
help centre for those who needs a tow or some help;
provide traffic info;
a gathering point for members to hang around.

There are now only 2 such stations left from the hundreds that once dotted all over singapore; soon there will be none.

In tiny Singapore's business world, only the Big Boys survive....

A bit on the sign
The Chinese Characters says "Changi End Taxi Service Station" . The "14 M.S." doesn't stand for mobile suit ( lol! ) but "Mile Stone" ; some archaic way of road indentification from the long gone colonial days. Dang if I know what the S.T.D.A. stands for.....

Processing - cropping and sharpening.

Reason for posting this?
This is not visually attractive and arresting, but take it as a bit of photo-journalism on Disappearing Singapore.

eelliott305, PLD_images, bertolucci, jiekuan, touristdidi has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

eelliott305 (776) 2004-03-29 5:56

A nice composition. I like the different texts on the sign above the hut, a good contrast with the modern cafe behind. It would have been good if some people had been in the shot.

PLD_images (7141) 2004-03-29 8:58

Nice photo and very interesting text. I haven never seen these stands before. I like the busy composition of your shot and all the colors. And I really appreciate the translation of the characters.

lemon_logix (1054) 2004-03-29 12:00

this is indeed ancient. Nice shot. and good notes. do you think a bw would work wonders too for this shot?

bertolucci (11976) 2004-03-29 15:25

Nice pic which is brought to life by your informative and pleasing note. The composition is well chosen (I like the black and white "pedestal" ;-).
In Holland every city use to have one or two taxi-co-operation due to government regulations - now that rules have been withdrawn there's an almost literal cut-throat competition between many companies. Thanx for sharing, Steely!

jiekuan (330) 2004-12-10 11:44