The Taipei City Commercial Taxi Union has proposed raising fares, citing rising costs, the Taipei Public Transportation Office said yesterday.
The union has proposed increasing the base fare from NT$70 to NT$100, the office said.
It wants to shorten the duration between surcharges on the meter when a taxi idles from NT$5 every 80 seconds to NT$5 every 60 seconds, the office added.
Photo: CNA
The union also proposed a surcharge of NT$50 when transporting passengers on typhoon days, General Transportation Division Director-General Hung Yu-min (洪瑜敏) said.
The office said it would discuss the proposed price hikes in a committee comprising Ministry of Transportation and Communications officials, the Consumer Foundation, experts and union representatives.
Taxi fares were previously adjusted in 2015, Hung said, adding that costs have significantly increased since then.
Hung said that the committee might not accept all of the proposed changes and approved changes would take effect three months after they are announced.
The committee would decide the amount of fare taxi drivers can charge during inclement weather, such as typhoons, Hung said.
Union president Liang Ping-liang (梁平良) said rising inflation and the COVID-19 pandemic have greatly affected the profit margins of taxi drivers.
The union proposed the changes in March, but the office failed to respond until now, he added.
Hung said the office in the interim communicated with the New Taipei City and Keelung governments to confirm whether they had received similar proposals, Hung said.
Republic of China Commercial Transportation Driver’s Union president Cheng Li-chia (鄭力嘉) said the base fare of NT$70 is not enough to buy even a lunchbox.
“We are aware that the government will not likely approve the figures we are proposing, but regardless, it should convene a meeting as soon as possible,” Cheng said.
There were 91,426 registered taxis nationwide as of December last year, down 472, or 0.5 percent, from a year earlier, ministry data showed.
Last year, taxi drivers’ average gross monthly income totaled NT$41,771, excluding government stipends, down 8.3 percent, or NT$3,797, from 2019, while their average net monthly income was down 14 percent, or NT$3,587.
Taxi drivers in established fleets earned 34.8 percent, or NT$6,562, more than individual cab drivers, the data showed.
Additional reporting by CNA
RESOLUTE BACKING: Two Republican senators are planning to introduce legislation that would impose immediate sanctions on China if it attempts to invade Taiwan US House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson on Sunday reaffirmed US congressional support for Taiwan, saying the US and “all freedom-loving people” have a stake in preventing China from seizing Taiwan by force. Johnson made the remarks in an interview with Fox News Sunday on US President Donald Trump’s summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) last week. In an interview that aired on Friday on Fox News, just as Trump wrapped up a high-stakes visit to China, he said he has yet to green-light a new US$14 billion arms package to Taiwan and that it “depends on China.” “It’s a very good
DRONE CENTRAL: Taiwan aims to become Asia’s democratic hub for drones, with most exports focused on high-quality military-grade models, an official said Taiwan’s drone industry is expected to expand significantly by 2030, producing 100,000 units per month and exporting half of them, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Current drone production capacity is about 15,000 units per month, but the industry can quickly scale up as demand increases, Industrial Development Administration Director-General Chiou Chyou-huey (邱求慧) told a news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s drone output grew 2.5-fold last year to NT$12.9 billion (US$408.3 million) under a government program to develop the uncrewed vehicle sector, he said. The Executive Yuan in October last year approved plans to invest NT$44.2 billion into domestic production of uncrewed aerial
WARNING: China should stop engaging in actions that undermine regional peace and stability, as it would only build resentment among people across the Strait, the CGA said China has deployed more than 100 navy, coast guard and other vessels in waters from the Yellow Sea to the South China Sea and the western Pacific since US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) met in Beijing, National Security Council Secretary-General Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) said yesterday. “In this part of the world, #China is the one & only PROBLEM wrecking the #StatusQuo & threatening regional peace & stability,” Wu wrote on X. In a separate post, he said Beijing was coercing Taiwan’s maritime domain, calling it illegal and provocative, after the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) expelled a
US President Donald Trump yesterday said he would speak to President William Lai (賴清德) as his administration considers whether to move ahead with a US$14 billion weapons sale to Taiwan — a potential arms deal that has drawn criticism from China. “Well, I’ll speak to him. I speak to everybody,” Trump told reporters yesterday when asked if he had any plans to call his counterpart, although he did not offer a time frame for when such a conversation could take place. Trump previously said he would speak to the person “that’s running Taiwan,” without specifying who he meant. “We have that situation very
RSS