The Great Singapore S$50 Robbery: Why One Woman Chose 14km of Foot Torture Over Surge Pricing

Wah, steady pom pi pi, my friends. Let me tell you about a local heroine who recently looked at a blood-boiling S$50.80 Grab fare from Boat Quay at 12:30 AM, felt her inner auntie short-circuit, and chose absolute chaos instead.

Meet 26-year-old content creator Denise Tan. Like any good citizen out on a Friday night, she wanted to head home to the northeastern part of Singapore. But when she opened her ride-hailing app, the algorithm slapped her with a price tag high enough to make a billionaire cry.

Her internal calculator immediately started working overtime: “S$50? That can buy me a good meal or a dress! Over my dead body am I funding Grab CEO’s next holiday!” (Well, as she actually put it, “$50 can buy myself a good meal or a dress”.)

So, instead of doing the sensible thing and coughing up the cash, she decided to turn a spontaneous late-night whim into content for her TikTok series, Detour with Denise. Armed with nothing but unyielding grit, a dead phone battery scare waiting to happen, and a pair of S$15 Mary Jane shoes, she set off into the dark.

The 4-Hour Odyssey Through the Concrete Jungle

Setting off at 12:30 AM, Denise’s trek read like a grand tour of Singapore’s nocturnal underbelly:

1:00 AM (Bugis): Still feeling fresh, probably wondering if she can survive on pure spite.
1:15 AM (Kampong Glam): The vibes are immaculate, the streets are empty, and her feet still haven’t filed for a union lawsuit.
Mid-Journey (Kallang Bahru, Potong Pasir & Woodleigh): The plot thickened like a bad bowl of lor mee. Mid-way through her march, she casually checked the Grab app again—and saw the price had plummeted to S$13.

Did she book the car? No way! By that point, she was far too emotionally invested, traumatized, and high on adrenaline to give up. As she noted, it became a personal challenge and she honestly stopped caring about the fare altogether.

Along the way, she braved the quiet streets, grabbed an iJooz orange juice to stay hydrated, and even experienced a minor jumpscare walking past the spooky Japanese Cemetery. By the time she dragged her corpse across her front door at 4:20 AM, her Strava app logged 12km and 17,274 steps over two hours and 40 minutes (though she estimated the grand total was closer to 14km).

The Real Winner: Her S$15 Mary Janes

Miraculously, despite walking for nearly four hours straight in budget footwear, Denise reported zero blisters the next day. Her shoulders ached from carrying her bag, and she admitted she probably should have shared her live location with friends who were already fast asleep, but she survived to tell the tale.

Netizens were completely divided: some called her an absolute madwoman, while others applauded her elite kiasu endurance. But as Denise brilliantly put it, those four hours of uninterrupted dark-mode reflection and saving fifty bucks to spend on a proper dress made sacrificing her sleep entirely worth it.

Bonus Chapter: The 3 AM Airport Baggage Drag Race

Just when you thought a 14km midnight hike in Mary Janes was peak Singaporean madness, another squad of absolute legends decided to level up the game.

Meet the trio of women who looked at a standard 16-minute car ride to Changi Airport for an early morning flight, scoffed at convenience, and decided: “Nah, let’s wheel our heavy luggage 9.4km through the dark at 3 AM instead.”

Spearheaded by TikTok user Angie, these fearless travelers set off from Tanah Merah in the middle of the night, armed with handbags, phone flashlights for sketchy underpasses, and what we can only assume was a dangerously high level of unhinged optimism.

While normal human beings prefer to arrive at an airport bleary-eyed and clutching a cup of airport Toast Box coffee, these ladies treated the pavement like an extreme obstacle course. Netizens instantly flooded the comments with the most crucial question of all: “What brand is your luggage? Are the wheels still alive, or did they file for bankruptcy halfway through?”

Between Denise hiking half the island to dodge surge pricing and this trio doing an impromptu pre-flight cardio workout with rolling suitcases at 3 AM, one thing is crystal clear: Singaporean women don’t just travel light—they travel by foot, out of sheer, unadulterated willpower.

Just remember, folks: next time you see a surge price, ask yourself—are you ready to channel your inner Forrest Gump and hike the entire length of the island in cheap flats, or are you just going to pay for the ride like a normal human being?

Watch Denise’s 14km adventurous walk here: