Singapore Taxi Scam

[Miaminice]

 it is no scam at all. Singapore, just like Dubai e.g. just has different kinds of transportation. The Limos and the taxis. Nobody is forcing you to take a Limo! 

 

Just because people are ill informed sometimes, doesn’t mean they are being scammed. The regular taxis for example are extremely inexpensive. 

 

[Globaliser]

18 hours ago, Miaminice said:

it is no scam at all. Singapore, just like Dubai e.g. just has different kinds of transportation. The Limos and the taxis.

 

Really? How would you know whether the person who's approached you in the terminal has a driving licence, or a taxi/limo licence, or any insurance to cover the journey?

[Expat Cruise]

5 minutes ago, Globaliser said:

 

Really? How would you know whether the person who's approached you in the terminal has a driving licence, or a taxi/limo licence, or any insurance to cover the journey?

If you go to either  the Singapore Cruise Terminal or the Marina Bay Cruise Terminal, or even the airport you have official loaders who will hand you a trip ticket. No way to confuse anyone, if they give you the ticket it is a real Singapore Taxi.  

 

[Miaminice]

 

35 minutes ago, Globaliser said:

 

Really? How would you know whether the person who's approached you in the terminal has a driving licence, or a taxi/limo licence, or any insurance to cover the journey?

 

🤔 Let‘s see... I would start by not acting like a stereotypical cruise passenger and by showing some interest in the places I visit before I get there. 

 

Second, the limos look different than a regular taxi. If it doesn’t look like a taxi, don’t get in.

 

Third, there are different areas at the Marina Bay terminal for limos and taxis, making it easy to pick a taxi and not a limo. 

 

If you still end up in a more expensive limo, it can hardly be called a scam but you simply made a mistake.

 

Singapore is one of the most organized cities/countries with one of the lowest crime rates in the world, partly because of the severe penalties. Just because a tourist picked the wrong, or better more expensive, out of two different official and legit methods of transportation doesn’t make it a scam. But sure, it’s always easy to blame it on others...

Edited February 3, 2019 by Miaminice

[Globaliser]

1 hour ago, Miaminice said:

Second, the limos look different than a regular taxi. If it doesn’t look like a taxi, don’t get in.

 

Third, there are different areas at the Marina Bay terminal for limos and taxis, making it easy to pick a taxi and not a limo. 

 

If you still end up in a more expensive limo, it can hardly be called a scam but you simply made a mistake.

 

What of this is not a recognisable (and sadly all-too-common) scam?

 

On 1/6/2019 at 9:02 PM, Bruin Steve said:

... and, before I can say anything, the man grabs my wife's suitcase...and starts leading us toward an elevator saying "No taxis down there, you have to go upstairs" ...

 

The guy drives us back to the terminal...and let's us out...There's a long line of taxis on that downstairs floor ...

[Hoyaheel]

Yeah, grabbing luggage and leading you to a van is NOT "choosing to take a more expensive limo". Different scenarios completely.

[Miaminice]

23 minutes ago, Globaliser said:

 

What of this is not a recognisable (and sadly all-too-common) scam?

 

 

I am referring to post #8 where the poster is calling the existence of two types of transportation a scam.... While in the same post explaining how to reach the taxi stand. 🙈 

 

As you can read in my post #26 I stated that having two types of transportation is nothing unusual and can hardly be called a scam.

 

As to the post you are obviously referring to: Have you been to Singapore and the port? If yes, you know how organized it is... ask yourself: would you have entered a van and wondered about the price after? 

 

Even if I were to follow someone who grabbed my luggage, I would not have entered any car clearly not marked as a taxi. Would you?

[Globaliser]

21 hours ago, Miaminice said:

Even if I were to follow someone who grabbed my luggage, I would not have entered any car clearly not marked as a taxi. Would you?

 

No, but that is because in a lifetime of travelling all over the world, I have been long indoctrinated into never accepting an offer of transportation from someone who approaches me - and that is because these are scams.

[karoo]

On 1/11/2019 at 11:27 PM, Iluvcruising2 said:

Taxi scams!  Terrible.  That's why it pays to do some research and surf these boards.

 

Some years back, I purposely went to Marina Bay Cruise Center to make a video to help cruise passengers who haven't been to Singapore before.  Here it is again. When you disembark, you arrive at the Arrivals Hall.  Follow the signs to Taxi.  It is about a 3 to 5 minute walk to the taxi stands.  Legal taxis are all metered in Singapore and they have to go by the meter, by law. 

 

 

I made the above video in 2015, but I haven't been back to the cruise center since.  If things have changed, let me know! 

 

Thanks for your video. I will be arriving by cruise ship and need to get to Singapore Changi Airport. The posts here and the video have confirmed that I want to catch the train. My problem is I'm arriving into Singapore from Australia/Indonesia. I won't have any Singapore Dollars.

*Is there an ATM in the terminal? I don't want to pay the exorbitant exchange fees. 

*Can you pay for the train ticket using a CC or do the ticket machines only accept cash?

 

Thank You

[Miaminice]

10 hours ago, karoo said:

 

Thanks for your video. I will be arriving by cruise ship and need to get to Singapore Changi Airport. The posts here and the video have confirmed that I want to catch the train. My problem is I'm arriving into Singapore from Australia/Indonesia. I won't have any Singapore Dollars.

*Is there an ATM in the terminal? I don't want to pay the exorbitant exchange fees. 

*Can you pay for the train ticket using a CC or do the ticket machines only accept cash?

 

Thank You

 

There really is no need to take the train! Simply use the regular taxis clearly recognizable by their color. They go by meter and it will be around 25 USD. You can also use an Uber or the like for around 20 USD. 

 

Taking the MRT is easy and possible by CC. But it takes you a while to walk to the station with your luggage.

 

I have been to Singapore a few times. It is one of the nicest, most organized, cleanest and certainly safest cities on the globe. Don’t be alarmed by a few horror stories!

Edited February 9, 2019 by Miaminice

[karoo]

17 hours ago, Miaminice said:

 

There really is no need to take the train! Simply use the regular taxis clearly recognizable by their color. They go by meter and it will be around 25 USD. You can also use an Uber or the like for around 20 USD. 

 

Taking the MRT is easy and possible by CC. But it takes you a while to walk to the station with your luggage.

 

I have been to Singapore a few times. It is one of the nicest, most organized, cleanest and certainly safest cities on the globe. Don’t be alarmed by a few horror stories!

Thanks-yes I've visited before-so clean! Last time though when i disembarked I took the ship tour that gave you a tour of various sites and then dropped you at the airport. This time I'm disembarking and wanting to go straight to the airport.