The New Taipei City Government came under criticism from Democratic Progressive Party City Councilor Lin Yi-chi (林裔綺) and taxicab operators for its management of the traffic around former goldmining community of Jioufen District (九份).
Jioufen is known for its quaint architecture, scenic sea views and being a major location for director Hou Hsiao-hsien’s (侯孝賢) 1989 film A City of Sadness (悲情城市). It has become a major tourist magnet for domestic and Chinese visitors, attracting 4 million people last year.
However, at a recent meeting taxicab operators said that Jioufen’s location and antiquated transportation network, combined with what they said was misstatement by public transportation authorities, is creating traffic havoc.
One taxicab fleet owner said that because County Highway 102, which is the main road leading to Jioufen, has no parking, cabdrivers usually drop their passengers off by a graveyard.
“It is not a great way to make first impressions for Jioufen,” the businessman said.
Other cabdrivers working in the Jioufen area said that the routes and fares mandated by the city government, which are detailed on billboards, are unnecessarily confusing and lead to frequent conflicts between drivers and passengers who misunderstand the signs.
A passenger who travels by taxi from the train station in Rueifang District (瑞芳) to visit Jioufen and then Shihfen District (十份) is charged NT$660, but a passenger who only wants to go from Jioufen to Shihfen has to pay the same amount because cabdrivers are required to make a detour around the train station, a driver said.
Taxi driver Tsai Ming-sung (蔡明松) said the standardized fares have not been changed since they were set eight years ago, adding that he and other drivers often rack up fines because of a lack of parking spots or poorly situated ones to offload passengers.
“My margin is thin and much of it goes to paying tickets. The authorities should think about how they run things,” he said.
Transportation Department division Director Su Hsien-chih (蘇先知) said his division has been trying to revamp the parking situation, but the village roads are too narrow and too many motor vehicles use them, including city buses.
The division considers the detour around Rueifang Station a safety requirement, Su said.
As for fares, the department had already decided to raise them as part of a rate hike scheduled to take effect in Taipei, New Taipei City and Keelung on Thursday.
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