A survey of the Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MOTC) showed yesterday that taxi drivers earned more money last year.
Chen Yen-po (陳彥伯), director-general of the ministry’s Department of Railways and Highways, said that the majority of the country’s taxis are in Taipei and New Taipei City (新北市).
The vacancy rate dropped from 80 percent in 2008 to 65 percent last year, he said.
A similarly low rate was also reported in 2004, when the vacancy rate was 63.25 percent, the statistics showed.
Chen said that taxi drivers in Taipei and New Taipei City needed to work an average of 12.17 hours a day during the global economic downturn in 2008. Last year, the average working hours dropped to 10.49 hours.
Taxi drivers in both cities take an average of 26 passengers daily and can earn NT$253 per hour, which is the highest since 2001.
The most significant finding is the difference in incomes between independent taxi drivers and those who work for taxi companies. The survey found that the daily income for independent taxi drivers has risen from NT$1,430 in 2008 to NT$1,933 last year.
Drivers for taxi companies, on the other hand, saw their daily income rise from NT$1,816 in 2008 to NT$3,692 last year.
When asked about the difference, Chen said that those working for taxi companies are able to get more information about where passenger demand is and therefore take more passengers than independent taxi drivers.
Chen said that the nation now has a total of 87,449 taxis. The figure peaked in 1997, when the nation had a total of 112,293 taxis.
Chen said that supply still exceeded demand.
Chen Teng (陳燈), head of the Taiwan Taxi Transportation Federation, disagreed with the results. Chen Teng said that independent drivers earned an average of NT$1,700 to NT$1,800 daily, whereas those of taxi companies earned an average of 2,300 a day.
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