Seeking to ameliorate the problem of public bus drivers refusing to pick up elderly passengers, the Bureau of Transportation of Taipei City Government yesterday proposed installing surveillance cameras on all the city's buses to monitor bus drivers' actions.
Currently, only the Hsin-hsin (欣欣), Da-yo (大有), Da-nan (大南), Chih-nan (指南), Taipei (台北) and San-chung (三重) private bus companies have surveillance cameras installed on some of their buses.
"These companies have experienced a tangible improvement in their bus drivers' attitude toward the elderly," said Chen Wu-cheng (
"We are therefore pushing for the installment of surveillance cameras on all the city's buses," Chen said. "By studying the interaction between the bus drivers and their passengers, we can make vital corrections and thus improve the bus services."
The bureau listed measures that have been introduced to protect elderly passengers from discrimination by bus drivers. These measures include intensified training for the bus drivers, raising their bonuses for taking elderly passengers and providing insurance coverage in the bus fare -- to cover any possible claims resulting from injuries sustained by passengers.
"We hope these measures will improve the bus drivers' attitude toward elderly passengers," Chen said.
According to a survey conducted by the bureau, which polled 2,200 randomly chosen Taipei City bus drivers, only 16 percent of the drivers said they always pick up elderly passengers, while 42 percent said they believe that their colleagues always pick up elderly passengers.
Of those interviewed, 86 percent said that they are more inclined to experience psychological stress when having elderly passengers on board.
The survey also asked bus drivers why they refused to pick up elderly passengers.
The reasons include the fact that elderly passengers are more likely to fall in a moving bus, take more time to get on and off the bus, and are more likely to have communication problems -- stemming from heavier accents and hearing problems -- and thus start quarrels with the drivers.
Chen said that aside from improving bus drivers' attitudes, "there are some guidelines that we hope the elderly passengers will follow to ensure their safety when boarding the bus."
For example, he said, "They mustn't move around too much on the bus.
"They must hold onto the armrest while sitting and inform the drivers of their destinations when boarding. These are ways to ensure their own safety and also help to ease the drivers' stress levels."
Aside from the publicly owned buses, there are nine private bus companies operating in Taipei City.
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