The Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MOTC) will soon identify several major traffic routes in the Taipei Metropolitan area for conducting a trial of a carpool system for taxis, the Institute of Transportation (IOT) said yesterday.
Wang Mu-heng (王穆衡), director of the IOT’s management division, said the trial may begin by the end of this year.
“We have discussed some of the issues with the Taipei City Government, including passenger security and fare rates,” Wang said. “Now we need to go to the taxi service operators and talk to them about these issues,” he said.
Wang said the ministry is seeking to set up an experimental route for other counties to follow.
He also mentioned that the institute is very likely to begin implementing the trial system on a route between the Jiantan MRT station and Yangmingshan (陽明山).
morning classes
Students studying at Chinese Culture University in Yangmingshan, for example, could take the taxis together from Jiantan (劍潭) for early morning classes.
According to current taxi rates, each passenger would only need to spend NT$60 for a one-way trip.
Based on the institute’s preliminary plan, taxis providing the carpool service would pick up passengers at designated taxi stops, where passengers can also check different rates for different number of passengers.
The rate for the carpool service would be different from the current one, which charges passengers by the number of kilometers traveled.
safety
Passengers would be able to get out of the taxi at any point along the route, but, for safety reasons, no additional passenger would be allowed to get in the taxi while it is traveling between two places.
Taxi drivers interested in providing the carpool service would have to have their qualifications reviewed by the government. To ensure that customers’ interests are protected, drivers must join a corporate taxi service before they would be able to offer the service.
other routes
As well as the route between Jiantan and Yangmingshan, the institute suggested the system be used on routes between Taipei and Keelung and between Taipei and Ilan.
Representatives of taxi service operators also recommend that the service be offered to those traveling between Shipai MRT station and the Taipei Veterans Hospital in Shipai (石牌), as well as those coming down from Maokong (貓空) to Muzha (木柵).
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