Learning to empathise with cabbies
Sunlight Taxi’s recent treasure hunt, “Having Fun With Sunlight”, was a roaring success, with over 300 taxi drivers and members of the public braving the rain in the Klang Valley to collect treasures for a good cause, and to vie for the top prize of RM2,000.
The winning team was ironically named “Don’t Know Much”.In total, RM30,000 in cash and kind was given out as prizes to 49 teams.
The “Don’t Know Much” team, comprising long-time friends Mohd Md Taib, Ahmad Zarmilan Mohamad and Ahmad Iznie, joked that while they might not know much about anything else, they were aware that teamwork pays off.
Individually each had taken part in various treasure hunts before and won, but this was the first time they ever participated together to win a grand prize.
Mohd Md Taib said, “We had expected to be in the top five but were surprised we came first. It was a fun, memorable and unique event. For the first time, we did not have to drive in a treasure hunt ,but depended solely on the taxi driver to navigate us. We spent so much time communicating with our taxi driver, which helped us to empathise with their daily challenges.”
The treasure hunt was also held to help underprivileged children.
Sunlight Taxi and main sponsors Magnum, silver sponsor KK Supermart and bronze sponsor Fotokem visited Rumah Hope (a sanctuary for abused and neglected children) after the event and donated all the treasures collected from the hunt to the children there.
In addition, Sunlight will continue to contribute RM500 every month to home’s petrol bill.
Land Public Transport Commission (SPAD) chief operating officer, Azhar Ahmad, who flagged off the first-ever taxi treasure hunt in Malaysia, commended the event for being such a fun and meaningful effort to bridge the gap between taxi drivers and the public.
He said it was also a platform to lift the spirits of taxi drivers.
Azhar indicated that taxi drivers need to improve their revenue to make better living.
“There are 37,000 registered taxis in the Klang Valley — 3.5 times more taxis than in New York. However, taxi drivers in New York earn double what our local drivers earn, in percentage terms, for the time they spend on the road.
“When we analysed this, we found that the difference lies in advanced technology. In New York, taxi drivers use GPS to enable the public to call the call centre to book a taxi. This leads to quicker turn-arounds and efficient income generation for taxi drivers.
“I am encouraged to know Sunlight Taxi has taken steps to employ GPS systems in their cabs to improve the revenue of taxi drivers,” said Azhar.
To encourage the public to use taxi services, Azhar said that people must understand taxis must not be seen as a mode of public transportation like buses or LRTs. The latter carry a lot of passengers while taxis are a personalised transportation service which provides comfort, convenience and exact drop-offs for passengers.
Azhar added that more educational programmes for both the public and taxi drivers alike were needed to improve mutual understanding.
Sunlight executive director Choi Wei Yee said: “For the new year, we intend to conduct more educational and training programmes for our taxi drivers to improve their communications with the public. We are already installing GPS systems in a few hundred taxis as a pilot project to improve the revenue of our drivers..
The Sunlight taxi treasure hunt was sponsored by Magnum (Platinum Sponsor), Cooper Tyre CCST (Gold Sponsor), KK Supermart (Silver Sponsor), Fotokem (Bronze Sponsor) and the official leisure café – Station One Café.
Other prize sponsors were Life Regen, MBG FruitShop, Fujihome, Seri Cempaka Suite, Fitness Concept Sdn Bhd and Chemplex Continental Sdn Bhd – Dynotab.
Extracted from New Strait Times (2nd Oct 2011)
Taxi drivers and passengers in treasure hunt
By Sarah Rahim
KUALA LUMPUR: Rampai Business Park in Wangsa Maju was recently a sea of Proton Waja taxis with their drivers in zesty green and orange T-shirts.
The occasion was the first taxi treasure hunt in Malaysia organised by Sunlight Group of Companies and participated by 200 contestants and 58 taxi drivers.
Sunlight Group of Companies executive director, Choi Wei Yee, said the treasure hunt gave the public an opportunity to walk in the drivers' shoes, and hopefully foster better interaction between the two parties.
Sunlight Group of Companies executive director, Choi Wei Yee, said the treasure hunt gave the public an opportunity to walk in the drivers' shoes, and hopefully foster better interaction between the two parties.
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| Syaiful Rizal Shuid (right) and Azmer Zainal Abidin pasting their team’s vehicle number |
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| Azhar Ahmad flags off the Taxi Treasure Hunt |
Land Public Transport Commission (SPAD) chief operating officer, Azhar Ahmad, flagged off the participants at 8am and the hunt began.
Each group of treasure hunters, numbering three or four, teamed up with a taxi driver for the hunt which began at the Rampai Business Park and with Menara Parti Gerakan Malayisa (PGRM) in Cheras as the last checkpoint.
The teams went around in the taxis, following a treasure hunt tulip with road instructions and odometer reading for taxis.
The teams went around in the taxis, following a treasure hunt tulip with road instructions and odometer reading for taxis.
At the first checkpoint, the participants were seen going back and forth the whole stretch of the business park, with some using iPad and laptops to search for answers to the clues given.
Besides the treasure hunt questions, the teams also had to answer trivia on road safety and the hunt's sponsors.
Around 8.35am, Team 52 headed to the second pit stop at Wangsa Maju Business Park, leaving behind the other wanderers.
According to the taxi driver of Team 52, Noraini Mohd Ali, her teammates were calm and organised, thus helping them to move on fast.
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| Team 38 having a discussion with their taxi driver Ayob Ahmad |
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| Participants at the second checkpoint, Wangsa Maju Business Park |
When they arrived at the third pit stop Pusat Perubatan Naluri, some treasure hunters without umbrellas were wet due to the rain.
Meanwhile, an accident took place when Taxi 47 driven by Asmadi Abdul Manan skidded down a slippery road and slammed into a motorcycle. One of the team members, Joe Lee Peiwan, was in shock, but she nevertheless was determined to complete the hunt.
One of the challenges for the treasure hunters was to buy groceries and hygiene-care products from hypermarkets. The items were to total RM1,500 and were to be donated to Rumah Hope, Paramount Garden.
At about 1pm, all teams finally dashed off to Seri Cempaka Service Suites, Menara PGRM from the last pit stop at Kafe Pat Kin Pat Sun to submit their answer sheets.
Later at 7.30pm, all were treated to a dinner at Menara PGRM for the prize-giving ceremony.
Team 56, comprising a trio of former classmates from Sekolah Sultan Alam Shah -- Iznie Mohd Taib, 34; Ahmad Zarmilan Mohamed Zain, 34; and Mohd Faizal Md Taib, 33; along with taxi driver Mohd Zaidi Zakaria, 37, emerged as the winners with 205 points from the total of 210 points.
Faizal said that throughout the competition, he learned that not only were taxi drivers knowledgeable on shortcuts, but they were a street-wise lot as well.
"This is definitely a fun and effective activity. Together with the driver, we had to apply lateral thinking and have a positive attitude. Teamwork was also crucial," he said.
The winning team bagged RM2,000 and hampers, while the taxi driver won four pieces of Cooper 195 Tyres.
6 comments:
Hi everyone,
I just wanna say that i am feel really cheated by now. As the title of the article clearly stated- the sun taxi hunt for BEGINERS. But please take a glance look at the winners posted on the right hand side of this blog......first place for the nissan hunt (southern) and the first place of the sun taxi hunt are the same persons.....at least two names are the same. Thus, it takes no brainy to say that this guys are no novice or no beginners hunters. I would suggest those involved ie the CoC, the participants and the organizers, please be ethical and responsible! (note: now i know why this people could get almost full marks on that day....though many questions were to hard and too good to be answered by the beginners like me).
You forgot to see members names of 2nd place winner of sunlight taxi hunt. Almost same name like champion of Nissan hunt (southern) too!!!
Ya lah.....these guys were from the same team in the nissan hunt southern and seemed to split into two teams during the sun taxi hunt. And another possibility was these guys had colloborated in order to secure the first 2 places. Disgusting!!!!!!! cOc, please take note of this! If not, pls do not promote it in the name of NOViCe at any time......it is misleading the public.
Thanks Anonymous & Anonymous 2 for your comments!
To be fair to the COC, Trailblazers did define the non-beginners as those names published in their website. Names not published there will be deemed to be beginners; hence eligible for the hunt.
As to their definition of non-beginners, they didn't commit that those who have hunted more than (say) 5 times will definitely be in the list. They may possibly combine TOS Hall of Fame list and add on a few regulars that they know.
As to how complete is the non-beginners list, there is no way that the COC can 100% weed out all non-beginners; as nobody keeps track of all participants' record.
So it's up to the participants to decide whether to accept the non-beginners definition & join or not. If you are unsure, you can clarify with the COC upfront before the hunt. You can share your preferred definition with COC, but it's up to them to decide. If you are still unhappy with their definition, then don't join. Simple!
If a beginner joins a hunt & wins on the 1st or 2nd attempt, does that mean that he/she is no longer a beginner? Again there's no hard & fast rule to define a beginner.
As to the accusation of possible collaboration between Champion & 1st-Runner Up, I wouldn't even want to go there. Just because they split up in Taxi Hunt & win, that doesn't mean that they will collaborate. Unless you have irrefutable evidence to support your claim!
You can also refer to my earlier article 'Independent vs Pakatan', on my viewpoint of such matter.
The subject matter is also now actively debated in Mike's blog too, perhaps it'd be good for the sports if you'd like to share your views there too..
I also follow them on Mike's blog.
My viewpoint has been more or less covered by some of the comments there!
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