The New Taipei City Department of Transportation yesterday fined a city bus company NT$9,000 after one of its drivers refused to provide service to a person who has amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, a type of neurological disease.
A young man surnamed Hu (胡) said that he was trying to catch a No. 857 bus outside the Luzhou Mass Rapid Transit station bound for Wugu District (五股) early on Sunday morning.
However, the Sanchung Bus Co driver told him that he was not allowed on the bus, because he was on an electric mobility scooter, Hu said.
Hu said he was able to get home on the next bus, which arrived about 10 minutes later.
Hu, who works for the city government’s Youth Advisory Committee, then filed a complaint with the department.
After reviewing footage taken from the bus’ surveillance cameras, the department fined the company NT$9,000 based on the Highway Act (公路法) for deliberately denying to provide service to passengers, said Lin Shih-chin (林詩欽), a division chief at the department.
The incident came weeks after another bus firm in New Taipei City was fined because a driver left behind two members of a family who were trying to board in Taipei.
The driver did not pay attention to whether his passengers were boarding or alighting, and as a result, the bus company was fined NT$30,000, the department said at the time.
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