Taxi fares in Taipei City will increase from Nov. 1, the city's Department of Transportation said yesterday.
From next month the current nighttime fare will apply around the clock, with the flag fall rate remaining at NT$70 for the first 1.25km, after which an additional NT$5 will be required for every 250m, down from the current 300m, officials said.
An additional NT$5 will also be required for every one minute and 40 seconds of waiting time.
Passengers will be required to pay NT$20 extra on metered fares between 11pm and 6am, the department said.
"It's been about seven years since the city's taxi fares were increased. With the recent increases in fuel prices, the city government and the taxi unions reached a consensus that it is time to raise the fee," Department of Transportation Commissioner Luo Shiaw-shyan (羅孝賢) said yesterday at Taipei City Hall.
During the Lunar New Year holidays, passengers will need to pay NT$20 extra, he said.
However, a NT$10 service fee for opening the trunk or telephone reservations will be canceled, as most taxi drivers do not charge such fees anyway, Luo said.
Taipei's taxi fares were last adjusted on Dec. 1, 2000. The city government considered raising the flag fall rate by as much as NT$25 last year, but in the end decided to reduce the vehicle license tax and fuel tax instead.
The government grants taxi drivers a subsidy of NT$2 per liter of fuel, up to a maximum of 550 liters per month.
The transportation department will issue 80,000 promotional stickers for taxi drivers to put on the windshields of their vehicles informing passengers about the new fares, Luo said.
FIREPOWER: On top of the torpedoes, the military would procure Kestrel II anti-tank weapons systems to replace aging license-produced M72 LAW launchers Taiwan is to receive US-made Mark 48 torpedoes and training simulators over the next three years, following delays that hampered the navy’s operational readiness, the Ministry of National Defense’s latest budget proposal showed. The navy next year would acquire four training simulator systems for the torpedoes and take receipt of 14 torpedoes in 2027 and 10 torpedoes in 2028, the ministry said in its budget for the next fiscal year. The torpedoes would almost certainly be utilized in the navy’s two upgraded Chien Lung-class submarines and the indigenously developed Hai Kun, should the attack sub successfully reach operational status. US President Donald Trump
TPP RALLY: The clashes occurred near the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall on Saturday at a rally to mark the anniversary of a raid on former TPP chairman Ko Wen-je People who clashed with police at a Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) rally in Taipei on Saturday would be referred to prosecutors for investigation, said the Ministry of the Interior, which oversees the National Police Agency. Taipei police had collected evidence of obstruction of public officials and coercion by “disorderly” demonstrators, as well as contraventions of the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法), the ministry said in a statement on Sunday. It added that amid the “severe pushing and jostling” by some demonstrators, eight police officers were injured, including one who was sent to hospital after losing consciousness, allegedly due to heat stroke. The Taipei
NO LIVERPOOL TRIP: Taiwan’s Lin Yu-ting, who won a gold medal in the boxing at the Paris Olympics, was embroiled in controversy about her gender at that event Taiwanese boxer Lin Yu-ting (林郁婷) will not attend this year’s World Boxing Championships in Liverpool, England, due to a lack of response regarding her sex tests from the organizer, World Boxing. The national boxing association on Monday said that it had submitted all required tests to World Boxing, but had not received a response as of Monday, the departure day for the championships. It said the decision for Lin to skip the championships was made to protect its athletes, ensuring they would not travel to the UK without a guarantee of participation. Lin, who won a gold medal in the women’s 57kg boxing
The US has revoked Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) authorization to freely ship essential gear to its main Chinese chipmaking base, potentially curtailing its production capabilities at that older-generation facility. American officials recently informed TSMC of their decision to end the Taiwanese chipmaker’s so-called validated end user (VEU) status for its Nanjing site. The action mirrors steps the US took to revoke VEU designations for China facilities owned by Samsung Electronics Co and SK Hynix Inc. The waivers are set to expire in about four months. “TSMC has received notification from the US Government that our VEU authorization for TSMC Nanjing