Car rental operators yesterday protested against a Ministry of Transportation and Communications proposal to toughen regulations on car rental businesses partnering with Uber.
Protesters disrupted traffic around the ministry’s building in Taipei by parking cars on the intersection of Hangzhou S and Renai roads.
They accused the ministry of intending to hurt consumers’ interests and kill car rental business operators with the stricter rules.
Photo: Huang Yao-cheng, Taipei Times
After repeated fines by the ministry for contravening taxi business regulations, Uber last year formed partnerships with car rental companies and now functions as a dispatching platform.
Despite such partnerships being permitted by the ministry, Uber has continued to operate in a manner similar to that of taxi business, even though taxis and car rentals are subject to different regulations.
The Directorate-General of Highways (DGH) has reiterated that car rental operators must still follow laws applicable to them, despite their partnerships with Uber.
Photo: CNA
Bills drafted specifically for car rental businesses stipulate that renters should be charged by the day or the hour, regardless of whether they drive themselves or have a driver, instead of by distance traveled.
Car rental operators would be banned from driving around and picking up customers as taxis do, the DGH said.
The government last year set up a diversified taxi service program to counter Uber’s effects on taxi businesses, allowing taxi operators to branch out into the car rental business or to transport disabled passengers, the Car Rental Business Association said.
The government last year accepted the partnerships between car rental companies and Uber, but now wants to toughen regulations on car rental operators who work with Uber, the association said.
Even though the association in a meeting with the DGH on Oct. 26 clearly opposed the proposed regulations banning rental car drivers from picking up passengers like taxis and charging them according to distance, the agency’s meeting minutes indicated that car rental companies were willing to comply with the government’s policy, the association said, adding that this shows that the agency falsified the document.
The association questioned why the government only regulates Uber, when Taiwan Taxi and M-Taxi have platforms similar to that of Uber.
“We think that the government should integrate all such platforms and change the diversified taxi service program into a diversified car rental program. Everyone can serve customers at the same level and earn money together,” the association said.
“The government should support platform operators like Uber rather than oppress them. People should have the right to choose if they want to rent a car or take a taxi,” association chairman Lin Chien-liang (林建良) said.
Imposing stricter regulations on car rental companies would affect the business of rental car drivers, causing them to lose about NT$280 million (US$9.08 million) in revenue, he added.
DGH Director-General Chen Yen-po (陳彥伯) received a written petition from the protesters, one of whom threw a bag of eggs at him while he posed for a photograph with Lin.
The association quickly distanced itself from the egg-thrower.
Chen said he met with protesters to listen to what they had to say, adding that the egg attack did not change his attitude.
“We have heard and will consider their petition,” he said.
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