Obbana Rajah
Drivers of taxis or private-hire cars can now make use of inward-facing cameras to deal with fare evasion, disputes or any form of unruly behaviour in their vehicles.
However, according to the Personal Data Protection Act (PDPA), drivers will not be able to upload any of those videos onto social media.
The National Taxi Association (NTA) has pushed for three years for this measure to be allowed.
Many taxi drivers and private-hire car drivers are very much in favour of the move.
Meanwhile, netizens seem to be resigned to their fates. If all taxi and private-hire companies make use of cameras, then one would be hard-pressed to find a mode of transport without this feature.
Most understand that a precedent has already been set, with cameras in just about every public place. It would then only be natural for these taxis and private-hire cars to follow suit.
However, there are still some who believe that their privacy should be respected and that the cameras should just be focused on taxi drivers in order to combat the issue of abuse. But, this solution fails to address fare evasion or fare discrepancies, both of which have to do with the passenger as well.
In countries such as England and Australia, many taxis have a protective screen installed between the driver and passenger. This could be a future alternative that taxis might want to look into.
As Netizen Kelwin suggested, the protective screen or ‘cage’ might be a viable option as late last year, there were already about 16 buses trying out this measure.
obbana@theindependent.sg