Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Taipei City Councilor Ouyang Lung (歐陽龍) yesterday criticized the city government’s logistics as new taxi rates came into effect in Taipei on Thursday, saying the changes would cause confusion and antipathy among foreigners.
According to the new fares, NT$5 per 200m is to be added to the minimum fare of NT$70,
Previously, the rate was NT$5 per 250m on top of the minimum fare.
In addition, the idling charge — for example at red lights — was raised from NT$5 per 100 seconds to NT$5 per 80 seconds.
However, despite the new rules, only about 1,000 of the city’s 30,000 taxis have reportedly installed meters that calculate the new rates, Ouyang said.
He said the city government is scrambling to implement the changes.
During a question-and-answer session with Taipei Department of Transportation Commissioner Chung Hui-yu (鍾慧諭), Ouyang asked why so few taxis had installed the new meters.
Ouyang said that the persistence of the old meters would cause confusion for passengers, especially foreigners, as the amount they are charged would be higher than what is shown on the readout, which could put taxi drivers in a bad light.
He said he is in favor of the fare hikes — the first in eight years — because the cost of living has become much more expensive, while the new rates would motivate people to use public transportation systems more.
He said the change could also help to reduce the city’s carbon footprint.
However, he said the municipal government should not have rushed to introduce a “half-formed” system.
The city should not have acted until it was well-prepared, “just as I would not stand here questioning you [Chung] today in my underwear,” Ouyang said.
Chung said that the low penetration of new meters stemmed from large numbers of devices that were found to be defective after they had been approved by the Bureau of Standards in late August.
Ouyang asked Chung to make sure that all taxis in Taipei install new meters by the end of the year, adding that “lazy” taxi drivers who do not bother to swap the devices should not be barred from charging passengers according to the new rates.
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