The Taiwan Taxi Industry Development Alliance yesterday said that it would mobilize 80,000 taxi drivers to protest against Uber Taiwan, after five taxi drivers either committed suicide or died from overwork in the past two weeks.
After accumulating a huge number of penalties handed down by the government, Uber temporarily ceased operations in February last year, but relaunched two months later by forming partnerships with car rental companies.
Uber drivers now drive their own vehicles and are the car rental companies’ employees in name only.
“Uber uses legal car rental companies as shields to cover up its illegal taxi business, which has greatly reduced the revenue of legal taxi drivers. The five taxi drivers who committed suicide or died from overwork had trouble making ends meet due to a shortfall in income, which is similar to what happened in New York City,” the alliance said in a statement.
Uber should stop making impractical promises to distract people from the fact that it is the reason more taxi drivers have to work longer hours, the alliance said, adding that the government should crack down on Uber and its drivers or it will have to confront 80,000 angry taxi drivers.
The rules used to regulate taxis are stricter than those for regular car rental businesses, and are in place for passenger safety, it said, adding that taxi drivers must undergo a background check at a police department before they are allowed to work.
Cases of passengers being sexually abused by Uber drivers in the US and London, as well as Didi-Chuxing drivers in China, are the result of loosely managed online platforms, the alliance added.
Uber could have become a legal taxi business operator by joining the government’s diversified taxi service program, but it seeks to evade its responsibilities as a transport business operator and insists on running an illegal taxi business, the alliance said.
“It has accumulated NT$2.5 billion [US$81.4 million at the current exchange rate] in penalties for contravening government regulations, refused to pay taxes and caused the number of commercial vehicles around the nation to rise,” the alliance said. “It shows an outright contempt for the law in Taiwan.”
The Ministry of Transportation and Communications said that car rental businesses mainly offer two services: either renters drive the cars themselves or they request the service of a driver.
As the alliance is challenging the legality of the latter service, the ministry said it would seek opinions from the Ministry of Justice to ascertain if Uber’s business practices are illegal.
Three Taiwanese airlines have prohibited passengers from packing Bluetooth earbuds and their charger cases in checked luggage. EVA Air and Uni Air said that Bluetooth earbuds and charger cases are categorized as portable electronic devices, which should be switched off if they are placed in checked luggage based on international aviation safety regulations. They must not be in standby or sleep mode. However, as charging would continue when earbuds are placed in the charger cases, which would contravene international aviation regulations, their cases must be carried as hand luggage, they said. Tigerair Taiwan said that earbud charger cases are equipped
Foreign travelers entering Taiwan on a short layover via Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport are receiving NT$600 gift vouchers from yesterday, the Tourism Administration said, adding that it hopes the incentive would boost tourism consumption at the airport. The program, which allows travelers holding non-Taiwan passports who enter the country during a layover of up to 24 hours to claim a voucher, aims to promote attractions at the airport, the agency said in a statement on Friday. To participate, travelers must sign up on the campaign Web site, the agency said. They can then present their passport and boarding pass for their connecting international
UNILATERAL MOVES: Officials have raised concerns that Beijing could try to exert economic control over Kinmen in a key development plan next year The Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) yesterday said that China has so far failed to provide any information about a new airport expected to open next year that is less than 10km from a Taiwanese airport, raising flight safety concerns. Xiamen Xiangan International Airport is only about 3km at its closest point from the islands in Kinmen County — the scene of on-off fighting during the Cold War — and construction work can be seen and heard clearly from the Taiwan side. In a written statement sent to Reuters, the CAA said that airports close to each other need detailed advanced
The age requirement for commercial pilots and airline transport pilots is to be lowered by two years, to 18 and 21 years respectively, to expand the pool of pilots in accordance with international standards, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications announced today. The changes are part of amendments to articles 93, 119 and 121 of the Regulations Governing Licenses and Ratings for Airmen (航空人員檢定給證管理規則). The amendments take into account age requirements for aviation personnel certification in the Convention on International Civil Aviation and EU’s aviation safety regulations, as well as the practical needs of managing aviation personnel licensing, the ministry said. The ministry
RSS