'You'll rather take the illegal way?' Tada driver chides passenger for kicking up fuss over $2 child seat fee

Even though a child's safety is of upmost importance, one mother somehow felt that forking out $2 for a booster seat on a private hire car was simply too much. 

Unhappy, she argued with her Tada driver over the additional fee in a video uploaded onto SG Road Vigilante on June 12. 

The incident happened on June 11 and at the start of the 90 second clip, the woman could be heard telling the driver that she did not agree with the $2 charge. 

"I don't want to [pay the] extra fee or what, you know? Because this is what we always take every week," she justified. 

After which, she asked the driver to drop her off and repeated: "I'm not going to pay [an] extra $2."

In response, the driver asked her if it was wrong of him to collect the $2 fee because he was "following the law".

The woman then insisted that Tada had no option on the app to let her pay $2 for a child seat. 

"There is. There's an option to set $2," the driver told her in exasperation, to which the passenger continued to argue that she did not want to fork out money for the seat. 

"You'll rather take the illegal way? It's illegal. It's not up to me. I'm following the law," he said. 

The driver then suggested that she go to a police station to settle the matter but the mother refused. 

"You go ahead. If you want to make your life [troublesome] like that, you go ahead. I don't want to [get] involved [in] this kind of thing. You can drop us here," she said. 

The driver then dropped her off. 

In response to AsiaOne's queries, a spokesperson from Tada said they strongly advise passengers travelling with a child under 1.35 metres to request the use of a child seat via their app when booking a private hire car.

This is so they can collectively ensure a secure and protected transportation experience.

"Tada prioritises the safety of its passengers and emphasises the importance of choosing the correct booking option to meet individual needs," said the spokesperson.

According to a written reply to a parliamentary question on drivers caught for not securing passengers below 1.35m in height back in 2020, Minister for Law and Home Affairs K. Shanmugam said that the Traffic Police, in talks and engagements with the community, regularly emphasises the need for drivers and passengers to be "properly secured". 

"TP also conducts regular enforcement actions. Under the Road Traffic Act, drivers will be guilty of an offence if they fail to ensure that passengers below the height of 1.35 metres wear an approved child restraint or body-restraining seat belt," he said. 

Those driving light vehicles will be fined $150 if caught, while those driving heavy vehicles will be fined $200. Additionally, offenders will receive three demerit points.

The Land Transport Authority also said that for safety reasons, "all vehicles in Singapore must have booster seats or child restraints for passengers under 1.35m in height". 

While taxis are exempted from this rule because they can be street-hailed, private hire cars, which must be pre-booked, allow passengers to indicate if they require booster seats or child restraints at the point of booking.

"This gives private hire car drivers sufficient advance notice to prepare accordingly," said LTA. 

Woman calls out Grab driver for asking her to bring booster seat 

Back in February, another mother took offence after her Grab driver told her she should either have a child seat or book a GrabFamily ride. 

She had wanted to take a two-minute Grab ride to her next destination and said she didn't understand the rationale behind this as her ride was short and there were only two people - herself and her 4-year-old child. 

Despite this, the driver still picked her up and sent her home. 

According to Grab's website, children between 1m and 1.35m are required to be strapped into booster seats during the ride. 

Passengers who book a GrabFamily car will have booster seats available, and the charge is included in the fare. 

However, passengers who do not have a GrabFamily booking will need to pay a surcharge of $2 for the booster seat, if the car has one available for use. 

ALSO READ: Cabby fired after booting pregnant woman and kids out of taxi at Toa Payoh

melissateo@asiaone.com

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