Having provided English classes for taxi drivers, the Taipei City Govern-ment is now offering English classes for bus drivers in the hopes that bus services will be further upgraded.
The first group of 52 bus drivers will receive four hours of English lessons beginning May 6. The lessons will focus on basic English conversation using vocabulary surrounding driver-passenger relations and the names of stops and buildings along bus routes, according to Wu Ming-teh (
Six bus companies transport a total of about 1.8 million passengers daily in Taipei, Wu said.
In order to provide an increased level of convenience to foreign visitors and expatriates using the city's bus services, the training center decided to set up the English classes to teach bus drivers some basic English that they can use while on duty, Wu said.
Since the center made the program public, phone calls made by individuals interested in registering have not ceased, and within days, the first two classes were fully booked, according to Wu.
The first group of 52 students all come from the Capital Bus Co.
Capital Bus president Lee Chien-wen (李建文) attributed the keen interest demonstrated by his drivers to several factors, including that Capital is offering paid leave to those who enroll in the classes as well as paying their tuition and providing a small allowance to give them the feeling that they have the company's support.
He said many of the drivers themselves feel that they need to hone their English conversation skills for their job as the company operates 518 buses that ply routes near the up-scale Min Sheng Residential District in eastern Taipei, as well as 204 buses that ply routes near the Ta An Forest Park and Yong Kang Street, leisure spots for many foreigners in Taipei.
Lee said Capital Bus is considered by many Taipei residents as the best bus company in the city, not only because its buses are newer and cleaner, but more importantly because its drivers, donning ties and freshly-ironed white shirts, do not treat the passengers rudely.
Capital Bus is also the only bus company in Taipei to require that its drivers wear small microphones on duty to announce the name of every stop along their routes, enabling passengers to know where they are, Lee added.
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