The government is monitoring how Uber operates under its new business model after the ride-sharing service provider returned to Taiwan last week, Deputy Minister of Transportation and Communications Wang Kwo-tsai (王國材) said yesterday, adding that the taxes and penalties imposed on the company must be paid in full.
“The Ministry of Transportation and Communications [MOTC] and the Directorate-General of Highways are watching closely to see if Uber is running a legal operation. We will be happy if it follows the law,” Wang told reporters on the sidelines of a meeting at the legislature’s Transportation Committee.
“We will closely monitor if it crosses the line and runs more like a taxi service,” he said, when asked to comment on the legality of Uber’s new business model, with the company working with car rental firms to provide rides.
Commenting on the differences between car rental and taxi services, Wang said the former charges car renters by the hour, whereas the latter charges passengers by the distance traveled.
Uber could violate the regulations if the company starts charging its passengers by the distance traveled, he said
Wang also reiterated that the ministry’s position that Uber must pay the taxes and penalties it owes, even though the company is trying to avoid payment by seeking administrative remedies.
In other news, the Transportation Committee froze 10 percent of the budget allocated to a six-year plan proposed by the Taiwan Railways Administration (TRA) to enhance railway safety, saying it would unfreeze the budget after the agency submits a detailed report on how the budget would be used.
The six-year plan is estimated to cost a total of NT$27.5 billion (US$906 million), the agency said.
Several lawmakers questioned the effectiveness of the plan, saying the agency had proposed similar plans before, but the number of railway accidents remained high, including the deaths of 10 pedestrians in the first quarter of this year alone.
TRA Director-General Jason Lu (鹿潔身) said the budget would be used to install alarms on the slopes along the North Link Railway and South Link Railway to warn about potential landslides.
The agency also plans to install fences and improve the signaling system at railway crossings on which pedestrians trespass frequently, Lo said.
The TRA is expected to submit a new ticket pricing scheme before the end of this month, Wang said, adding that the ministry supports a reasonable adjustment of prices, which have not changed in 20 years.
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