The Highway Bureau yesterday said that it is considering recruiting public bus drivers from international students and students of Chinese descent graduating from Taiwanese universities to address the shortage of bus drivers, provided that they are able to speak intermediate-level Mandarin.
Based on the bureau’s proposal, which has been submitted to the Ministry of Labor, international students must have intermediate-level Chinese language proficiency and have relevant licenses or training. The minimum monthly salary for passenger transport work would start at NT$50,000, and the monthly salary must not be less than NT$43,000 for freight transport work.
At the end of March last year, the labor ministry said that it would allow foreign students and students of Chinese descent to engage in mid-level technical jobs such as truck drivers, ride-along assistants, and intercity and city bus drivers after graduation.
Photo: Hsieh Wu-hsiung, Taipei Times
However, due to differing opinions from the public, it asked the Ministry of Transportation and Communications to reassess the proposal and plan supporting measures.
In response to public concerns, the Highway Bureau said in a written statement that, after consulting the Ministry of Education and the National Immigration Agency, it raised the Chinese-language proficiency test requirement from the basic level to the intermediate level.
In mid-November last year, the revised proposals were submitted to the Ministry of Labor for regulatory review.
As of last month, there was a shortage of 1,367 drivers in city bus services and 661 drivers in highway passenger transport services, bureau statistics showed.
Separately, construction of the Airport MRT Terminal 3 Station (A14) of the Taoyuan Airport MRT Line is progressing rapidly since the northern concourse of Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport’s Terminal 3 was opened on Dec. 25 last year, the transportation ministry said yesterday, adding that the installation of the core electromechanical systems began in the station in November last year.
The main Terminal 3 building is scheduled to be completed by the end of next year.
Air travelers would be able to seamlessly transfer to the MRT immediately after exiting the terminal, traveling easily to Taipei, New Taipei City or Taoyuan’s urban areas, the transport ministry said.
Work at the station is focused on finishing the first platform surface and installing platform screen doors, with completion targeted for the first half of this year, it said.
The station is scheduled to open next year in conjunction with Terminal 3, it added.
The manufacture of the remaining 28 M1A2T Abrams tanks Taiwan purchased from the US has recently been completed, and they are expected to be delivered within the next one to two months, a source said yesterday. The Ministry of National Defense is arranging cargo ships to transport the tanks to Taiwan as soon as possible, said the source, who is familiar with the matter. The estimated arrival time ranges from late this month to early next month, the source said. The 28 Abrams tanks make up the third and final batch of a total of 108 tanks, valued at about NT$40.5 billion
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