When the going gets tough, the tough gets going. Or you become a douchebag.

This is apparently what is happening in Singapore these days as the traditional taxi industry is facing a major shake-up following the arrival of new entrants Uber and Grab.

So much so one taxi driver is allegedly trying to protect his market share by making life difficult for Grab drivers plying the roads at the same time as him.

Mothership.sg was alerted to this story by a Grab driver.

According to him, the taxi driver's modus operandi is simple:

1. As the taxi driver is also believed to be working the graveyard shift at 3am, he will make multiple bookings for Grab cars early in the morning to far flung places:

According to these screen shots, the destinations include "Tuas South Boulevard" and "Pulau Ubin".

2. And then he will give the wrong pick-up address -- before suddenly cancelling the rides he booked:

According to these screen shots, the Grab driver can be seen messaging the person who booked the car to confirm the address: Apparently, it is neither block 269A nor 322. It's 332. And then he is gone.

This other screenshot cites an emergency -- an "fire at office" that is very urgent. At 5.57am in the morning.

But there is no block 332. After which, he cancels the booking by not knowing how to do it.

This move is particularly devious as it is an attempt to destroy Grab drivers' acceptance rate (AR) and cancellation rate (CR), which will ultimately affect the victim drivers' incentives and earnings.

As this story originated from a Grab driver, it is not known if the same thing is happening with Uber drivers, but it is ultimately annoying for private car hire drivers to be accepting rides only to have them cancelled.

Opportunity costs are costs.

3. It appears the taxi driver's antics have been carried out frequently enough that they have caught the attention of the private car hire community:

The taxi driver's unethical and anti-competitive antics have been going on for some time, so much so the other private car hire drivers know which company he is working for and even who he is.

This is the history of two cancelled jobs back-to-back in one night believed to have originated from the same person:

The traditional taxi industry has been requesting the authorities to level the playing field in the midst of this new intense competition from Uber and Grab.

As and when they are going to, then the authorities should also look into penalising errant taxi drivers who attempt to ruin the livelihoods of others by erecting unethical barriers to competition.

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