There is a big shortage of bus drivers in the greater Taipei region. Although drivers’ monthly salaries are as much as NT$70,000, which is three times as much as the NT$22,000 that many young people earn on their first job, Taipei City is still short of more than 1,200 drivers. Apart from long working hours and bad and risky traffic conditions, many drivers think that the requirements for providing service, along with the frequent complaints lodged by passengers, are the main reasons why old hands have been leaving the job market and young people are reluctant to join. Some drivers say with a sigh that they are supposed to provide fastidious service and treat their passengers as emperors.
A bus driver surnamed Lu who has 10 years’ experience in the job says that in recent years the way buses are run in greater Taipei has gone from plain transport provision to a service industry. In the past, he says, as long as you had a large passenger vehicle driving license and received the relevant training, you could hit the road, but today’s companies are constantly exhorting their employees to provide good service and a pleasant atmosphere, and drivers have to undergo a string of classes and training, which they are not used to at all.
Mr. Lee, who resigned nearly a year ago, says that when a passenger lodged a complaint against him the company did not investigate the facts. He was unfairly labeled as a villain with a poor service attitude and suffered wage deductions and a black mark on his work record, so that there was no longer any job quality to speak of. “Although you are supposed to put the customer first in this day and age,” he says, “we have now got to the point where customers are treated like emperors. One word from them and we could get penalized.”
Photo: Kuo I, Liberty Times
照片：自由時報記者郭逸
Drivers say frankly that it is only by working “super-long work hours” that they can earn handsome monthly salaries. Drivers work either single or double shifts. If you want to earn NT$40,000 to NT$50,000 or more, you have to work at least 10 hours a day while only getting four days’ off a month. Drivers who work double shifts or “golden” routes have to work at least 12 hours a day, while irregular mealtimes and irregular working hours are routine features of the job.
Full-fare bus ticket prices in greater Taipei are expected to go up from NT$15 to NT$16 next year, and the drivers’ union and bus operators have reached an understanding that when tickets are adjusted by NT$1, drivers will get a NT$2,000 wage rise.
(Liberty Times, translated by Julian Clegg)
大台北公車鬧「駕駛荒」，即使月薪最高達七萬元，比社會新鮮人的22Ｋ高出三倍，但北市仍有一千兩百多個缺額。除工時長、交通差且風險高，許多駕駛認為「服務要求與乘客投訴多」是老鳥離開市場且年輕人卻步的主因。更有駕駛嘆：「服務必須無微不至，乘客有如皇帝。」
已有十年經驗的盧姓公車駕駛說，近年來大台北公車營運型態從運輸業轉型為服務業，以往只要有大客車駕照並接受相關訓練就能上路，現在公司耳提面命「服務好、氣氛佳」，還要接受一連串教育訓練，其實很不習慣。
辭職近一年的李先生說，他當初被乘客投訴，公司卻未追查實情，他就被冠上「服務態度差」的莫須有罪名，導致扣薪、考績差，毫無工作品質。「雖然這個時代是『以客為尊』，但乘客已被當成皇帝，他們一句話，我們就可能被處分。」
公車駕駛們坦言，「超長工時」才能換得優渥月薪。駕駛分為「單班」與「雙班」，若要收入四、五萬元以上，每日工時至少十小時，且月休僅四天；跑雙班或黃金路線的駕駛，每日工時十二小時起跳，吃飯、上下班不固定是家常便飯。
大台北公車全票票價預計明年從十五元漲至十六元，工會也與業者達成共識，票價調整一元，駕駛加薪兩千元。
（自由時報記者郭逸）
Computex, Asia’s biggest electronics conference, kicked off Monday in Taipei, and as in years past drew industry chieftains from Nvidia Corp.’s Jensen Huang and Qualcomm Inc.’s Cristiano Amon to Young Liu of Foxconn, which makes the bulk of the world’s iPhones and Nvidia servers. But while last year’s event was a celebration of the post-ChatGPT AI boom, executives this time are likely grappling with the uncertainty of the Trump administration’s effort to reshape the global trade order — disrupting a decades-old model for tech manufacturing. This year’s exhibition will of course feature the hardware required to bring artificial intelligence to life.
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