The official six-day public holidays will start from the New Year’s Eve on Wednesday, Feb. 6 for people to travel home for the traditional family reunion dinner and end on Monday, Feb. 11 for public servants, school teachers, and employees of state-owned enterprises. Private enterprises and organizations generally conform with the same schedule.

Many people will opt to take taxis to visit friends or attend certain gatherings or other functions.

Officials at the Bureau of Transportation under the Taipei City Government announced taxis will charge a markup on the price shown on the fare-meter from midnight of Feb. 4 to 12.

The markup will be NT$20 for every trip during the daytime.

But the markup will be NT$40 for night-time taxi service starting from 11:00 p.m. in late night through 6:00 a.m. in the morning. That figure includes the current NT$20 nighttime surcharge.

The temporary markup will apply to Taipei City, Taipei County and Keelung City that belong to the same business area for taxi drivers.

Officials said stickers notifying passengers about the extra charge will have to be placed at conspicuous spots inside the taxicabs, especially on the back of the front passenger seat to avoid disputes.

They said taxi drivers found to be charging more than the prescribed markup will be prosecuted.

The officials advised people to use more of the convenient taxicab service when they have been imbibing alcoholic drinks. Traffic police in the greater Taipei area will not ease on cracking down on drunk drivers during the holiday season, they warned.

Hefty fines and other penalties will be levied on those insisting on driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs, they said.

The officials urged passengers to call toll-free phone number 0800-055-850 for taxis or report on taxi drivers who make overcharges beyond what is prescribed in the notice on the stickers.

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