I drive PHV 12 hours a day but have $0 savings. Am I the problem, or is the stress of this job just too high?
Throwaway because if my relatives read this, I will never hear the end of it during Chinese New Year.
I (38M) have been driving Grab and Gojek full-time for the past three years. You always see on Facebook or TikTok those super garang drivers showing off their $8,000 to $10,000 monthly statements, flexing how hard they hustle. So I told myself, okay, I also want to chiong. I rent a Honda Vezel, wake up at 6 AM, and drive until 6 PM. Sometimes I even push through the evening peak hour until 9 PM. 12 to 14 hours a day, 6 days a week.
My gross earnings are actually not bad. I hit about $6,500 to $7,000 a month consistently. But somehow, at the end of the month, my POSB account is left with barely $50. I sat down yesterday at a kopitiam with my calculator to track my expenses, and I realized I have a massive, embarrassing financial leak.
Here is my monthly breakdown:
- Car Rental: $2,100
- Petrol/Charging: $1,200
- Food/Cigarettes/Kopi: $800
- “Stress Relief / Physiotherapy” at Geylang: $2,500 to $3,000
Yes, you read that right. Almost half of my net earnings go straight to the Geylang chickens.
Before the r/singapore moral police start flaming me in the comments and calling me a degenerate uncle, please hear me out. Do you know how physically and mentally shag it is to drive PHV in Singapore? You sit in the exact same position for 12 hours. Your lower back feels like it’s being stabbed by a rusty screwdriver. You deal with entitled CBD office workers who KPKB (complain) when you miss one filter lane, and you have to tahan the smell of cheap perfume and sweat all day.
My mental health was completely in the gutter. So, to cope, I started going for “massages” after my shift. At first, it was just the legit ones at People’s Park Complex to fix my back. But eventually, my car somehow auto-piloted to Lorong 18.
It started as a once-a-week treat. “Reward yourself,” I thought. “You completed 30 trips today, you deserve it.” But the Thai and Vietnamese girls there are so sweet. They call me “ge ge” (big brother), they pretend to be amazed by my boring stories about Grab’s algorithm, and they massage my stiff shoulders before the main event. Where else in Singapore can a stressed-out, balding 38-year-old get this kind of undivided emotional and physical validation?
But yesterday, the math finally hit me, and it is incredibly depressing. I realized I am literally driving like a mad dog from Tuas to Changi, earning $25 per trip, just to hand four trips’ worth of earnings directly to a Vietbu named “Apple” for 45 minutes of happiness.
I am basically Grab’s slave, and Apple’s ATM. I work like a dog to pay for my Vezel rental, just so I can use the Vezel to drive myself to Geylang to go broke. It’s a vicious cycle.
I tried to quit. Last week, I told myself I will just go home, eat my cai png, and watch Netflix. But by 10 PM, my steering wheel magically turned into Aljunied Road again. Bo bian, muscle memory.
Has any other PHV driver faced this? How do you guys manage the crushing loneliness and physical pain of this job without giving all your hard-earned money to the nightlife industry? Should I just bite the bullet, ban myself from the East side, and buy an OSIM massage chair instead? Please advise, my CPF is crying and my future is looking like I will be driving until I am 85.