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Public struggles to use 0800 services

Although government ministries and agencies have more than 200 toll-free 0800 service lines, some numbers aren't listed in the yellow pages, leading to deteriorating service as the public struggles to memorize and differentiate between numbers, sometimes unable to find out if they even exist.

Wu Feng-shan (吳豐山), minister without portfolio charged with supervising the Tourism Bureau, recently attended a review of the efficiency of the Tourism Bureau's 0800-011765 Call Center, which was set up to report garbage problems or traffic jams on weekends and holidays.

Wu said the report showed that only nine of more than 3,000 calls during the first four months of the service dealt with garbage and traffic issues, which shows that most people do not know the purpose of the call center.

The best way to assist the general public would be to combine different numbers, he said.

The Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MOTC) and its various agencies, for example, have more than 30 different toll-free service numbers.

The Tourism Bureau has a call center, an emergency number and numbers for the Alishan, Northeast Coast and Sun-Moon Lake scenic areas, while the Directorate General of Highways has introduced hotlines for car inspection services, bus travelers and its five maintenance offices. The Civil Aeronautics Administration, airports, main train stations and the major ports also have introduced toll-free service lines.

MOTC officials acknowledged that the reason for having so many service lines is "to be able to tell people complaining about poor service that we have a service line. We've really never given any consideration to how we should best assist the public."

Minister of Transportation and Communications Tsai Duei (蔡堆) said combining service lines should be considered to reduce confusion.
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