More than 100 members of Taipei City's "Tour Taxi Fleet" yesterday gathered to promote their English and Japanese language services, while urging the Taipei City Government to put greater effort into making the fleet's service more accessible to foreign visitors.
Established by the Taipei City Transportation Department last year, the service aims to increase Taipei's tourism competitiveness by providing English and Japanese-language services. The fleet includes 83 taxi drivers with English-speaking skills and 28 Japanese-speaking drivers.
To help passengers identify the taxis, the department last year provided stickers for display on the taxi windshields indicating the driver's ability. This year, the department also established a call center for the fleet.
Frank Wang (王憶台), a member of the fleet with English-speaking skills, however, shared his doubts about the effectiveness of the stickers and call centers, urging the city government to seek the cooperation of hotels and major tourist sites and allow the fleet to line up to pick up their target customers directly.
Fleet members Meike Liao (
"I pick up foreigners only two out of seven days in a week, and they don't know I speak English and Japanese until I tell them," Liao said.
Yeh Tzu-chuan (
Arranging exclusive opportunities for fleet members to line up in front of hotels and other tourist sites, however, may be difficult. Major hotels, MRT stations and tourist sites are often occupied and considered the "turf" of certain associations.
Those who need English or Japanese-speaking taxi services can identify the fleet's taxis by the stickers or call the 24-hour dispatch hotline at 0800-011-765.
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