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MOTC looks for ways to rebalance taxi supply

The Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MOTC) is researching ways to balance supply and demand in the market for taxis.

Research by the ministry’s Institute of Transportation (IOT) showed that the supply of taxis far exceeds the demand. On average, a cab driver works 12.17 hours a day and drives around with an empty car about 80 percent of the time. Last year, each cab picked up around 18 customers per day, down from 21 in 2006. Wang Mu-heng (王穆衡), director of the IOT’s management division, said the research also showed more people were using branded taxi services, such as Taiwan Taxi (台灣大車隊), particularly in big cities.

“Take the Taipei metropolitan area for example. They [branded taxi services] own about 20 percent of the total cabs, yet they control about 40 percent of the market,” Wang said, adding that the situation makes it difficult for independent cab drivers to survive.

To address the issue, Wang said the National Police Agency (NPA) has made it more difficult for individuals to pass the taxi driver qualification exam by testing their knowledge of roads and operating under different road conditions.

As the local governments are the administrative authority for distributing licenses for cab drivers, Wang said that the institute might propose using the vacancy rate as one of the factors to determine the cab service charge.

Wang said some cab drivers could serve other markets.

“As public transportation remains unavailable in some of the nation’s regions, the government could find a way to use cab drivers to fill the gap,” he said.
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