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Disabled groups speak out against city bus fee hikes

A number of disabled groups yesterday protested against the scheduled fee increase of Fu-Kang Bus in Taipei City and expressed dissatisfaction over the difficulty in reserving one of the 126 buses provided by the city government to serve more than 100,000 disabled citizens.

Fu-Kang Bus is the public vehicles that transport disabled people in Taipei City.

The fee for the bus, one-third of taxi fares, will be increased automatically with the taxi fares next month as the Taipei City Government has agreed.

Along with the new taxi fare policy, the bus fare will increase NT$5, according to the Taipei City's Department of Transportation.

"Fu-Kang Bus is a great transportation tool for the disabled, but the supply can't meet our demand. The increase in the fare may make the situation worse," Lin Yu-chih (林煜智), founder of the Osteogenesis Imperfecta Association said at the Taipei City Council.

Shih Yung-mu (施雍穆), a member of Association of Spinal Cord Injury in Taipei, complained about the bus policy, which required the disabled to reserve the bus at least three days in advance, and called on the city government to reconsider its plan to purchase low chassis buses seeking to serve disabled groups.

"The undersupply of buses is not a new issue. Besides, the call reservation policy can't really help those in emergency situations. I don't know what will happen to me in three days," he said.

Accompanied by a group of disabled persons, Democratic Progressive Party Taipei City Councilor Hsu Chia-ching (徐佳青) lashed out at the city government for wasting Taipei residents' money by budgeting NT$100 million (US$3 million) to purchase 100 low-chassis buses next year.

Instead of purchasing low-chassis buses, which would likely cause traffic congestion when disabled people tried to get on the buses, she urged the city government to use the money to purchase more Fu-Kang buses.

Yeh Tzu-chuan (葉梓銓), a department section chief, said the department will provide a NT$480 monthly transportation subsidy for the disabled and the elderly starting next July to encourage them to take the taxi if the situation allowed, but declined to confirm whether or not the city government will purchase more Fu-Kang buses.
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