Taiwan Taxi Co (台灣大車隊), which linked up with 7-Eleven yesterday to kick off a substitute driver system through the convenient store chain’s ibon kiosks, hopes to boost bookings of such services each month, a company executive said yesterday.
“The market for substitute drivers is huge but it is still untapped. Especially in greater Taipei, demand is going to explode in the future,” special assistant to the chairman of Taiwan Taxi Lee Meng-chung (李孟宗) told a press conference.
The taxi company, with a total fleet of 8,500 cabs nationwide, tapped into the market three years ago and has been receiving about 100 calls per month for the service, Lee said.
By joining hands with 7-Eleven, the nation’s largest convenient store chain, which has a network of 4,800 outlets, Taiwan Taxi expects bookings to grow by 30 percent a month, he added.
The service allows businesspeople or those out partying late to go to their nearest 7-Eleven and tap on the screen of ibon kiosks to request a substitute driver from Taiwan Taxi if they find themselves unable to drive home safely after consuming alcohol.
After users enter their cellphone numbers in the ibon machine, Taiwan Taxi will send a cab along with a substitute driver to the convenience store where the customer has placed the request within 10 minutes.
The service charges around NT$1,000 (US$30) for a distance under 14km and an extra of NT$100 per kilometer over that distance.
On a 10km basis, Seoul operators charge around NT$554 for substitute drivers, Tokyo’s fees are doubled that of Taipei, while Hong Kongers have to pay NT$2,022 for such services at night and NT$3,235 after midnight, according to statistics provided by Taiwan Taxi.
A local survey conducted by wine firm Diageo last month found that 60 percent of more than 1,100 people surveyed had heard of substitute driver services, but a mere 7 percent had used such a service.
Before the busy hours began at 10pm yesterday, the taxi company had already received three requests from drivers through the ibon service, customer service manager Ella Yang (楊雅筑) said late last night, adding that she expected more to come before dawn.
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