A waste of talent - 600 graduates holding taxi license

Didnt know that there are so many degree/diploma holders who drives taxis.

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Ever wonder who your driver really is whenever you hop into a taxi?

According to statistics from the Land Transport Authority, there were 600 graduates (with a diploma or higher) who held a taxi license last year. This figure was up 23 per cent, from 460 drivers in 2003, reported Lianhe Wanbao.

It also seems that these highly educated taxi drivers are getting younger.

In 2003, the number of such drivers aged 45 and below totalled 280. Last year, this figure climbed to 400.

So why do such highly qualified graduates choose to be taxi drivers? Do they feel that they're throwing their education to waste?

One such driver told the Chinese daily his reason for doing so.

Mr Shen Zhi Ming, 39, came back to Singapore in 1994 after graduating with a mechanical engineering degree from the United Kingdom and started work in a government organisation.

In 2004, he was promoted to a supervisory role and took charge of 60 employees. At that time, he was earning a monthly salary of $4,500.

In 2005, he resigned to set up his own business.

As he was tired of supervising his employees, Mr Shen decided to call it quits after about a year of starting his business venture.

After winding up his business, the bespectacled man became a car broker, but felt that his straight-talking personality clashed with the nature of the job.

With that, he decided to become a taxi driver with SMRT.

He admitted that, in the beginning of his career as a taxi driver, he felt it was a bit of a waste that he could not apply the knowledge he had acquired during his education stint abroad, continued the report.

However, now that he doesn't have to supervise anyone else, Mr Shen admittedly feels more 'free', despite the fact that his earnings have been cut by half.

The same article also featured two other taxi drivers who have pursued the less-driven path. One driver, a graduate from Australia, said that he chose to drive a taxi because he liked chatting to customers.

The other driver, a diploma holder, said that he became a taxi driver to test his patience and to serve the public.

From: Straits Times