Little red dots to pepper Singapore’s roads
Mr V A Moorthy, a taxi driver with ComfotDelGro attaching a "red dot" to his vehicle during the launch of Comfort's SG50 charity drive campaign. Photo: Ernest Chua
SINGAPORE — She wanted something that was representative of Singapore, yet visually eye-catching, for ComfortDelGro’s new charity initiative to mark SG50.
It then struck Mrs Jayne Kwek, chief executive officer of Moove Media, that a little red dot was what she was looking for.
After all, the “little red dot” — first used by former Indonesian President B J Habibie in 1998 to describe Singapore — has become an affectionate term to describe the island nation.
“It’s eye-catching, yet so simple and classy. My hope is that we can have all 50,000 red dots peppering Singapore’s roads, as we come together to celebrate our nation’s birthday,” said Mrs Kwek, whose company is the advertising arm of ComfortDelGro.
The transport company hopes to raise up to S$250,000 for charity from its red dot project.
During the three-month charity drive, till August, little “red dots” will be sold for S$10 each at the 40 Singapore Petroleum Company pump stations across the island. Made of durable foam and mounted on a plastic stand, they can be clipped onto car windows.
The money raised from the sale of the red dots will be used to help four charities: Lions Befrienders Service Association; Handicaps Welfare Association (HWA); Singapore Association of the Visually Handicapped (SAVH); and Cerebral Palsy Alliance Singapore (CPAS).
The Lions plans to use the money to help seniors living in one-room rental flats by buying them household appliances, such as new refrigerators, while the HWA will use the money to pay for their members’ transports needs.
The SAVH said the money will be used to pay for services to teach the blind and help them be independent, while CPAS will use the donation for programme fees, transport subsidies and buying mobility aids.
ComfortDelGro’s fundraising drive was launched yesterday (May 13) by National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) secretary-general Chan Chun Sing, who is also the adviser to the SG50 Partnership Committee.
After the launch, Mr Chan also spoke to reporters about the growth of third-party taxi-booking apps in Singapore, which may give cabbies greater competition as more drivers enter the fray.
He said: “This is a new set of challenges that we have to confront, but that is where the unions, together with the taxi drivers and operators, can come up with new models ... that will bring (service) to a higher level.”
“You can have Uber and UberX, but what is the quality assurance that, say, somebody from ComfortDelGro and the operators can bring to the table. It’s quite different. It boils down to the words, trust and quality,” Mr Chan added.
