City gov’t urged to control number of taxis

Councilman Chen Yung-teh pointed out that there is also a need to improve the quality of service by the taxis.

The taxi drivers worked an average of 24 days a month and each had 14.53 fares every day during the period of 2004 to 2006, according to statistics.

But there was also a high vacancy rate of more than 70 percent while fuel costs have skyrocketed, he said. Taxi drivers also had a high violation frequency of traffic rules, mostly speeding and illegal parking when they compete for business, Chen said.

There were even cases in which taxi drivers were caught for drunk driving by traffic police.

During the year of 2007, taxi drivers also had 1,984 cases involving vehicle registration violations, he said citing statistics.

Responding to the questions, Luo Hsiao-hsien, director of the Department of Transportation of the Taipei City Government, said there are presently more than 30,000 registered taxis in the city.

The number represents an increase of 20 percent from 10 years as many unemployed people chose to drive taxis as a stop-gap measure to feed themselves and families while the economy and business has remained stagnant these years, Luo explained.

But the actual total number of taxi drivers doubles to over 60,000 because taxi drivers from adjacent Taipei County, Keelung City, and Yilan County also come to the city to do business, he said.

However, curtailing the number of taxis can be a highly complicated issue because it has to be regulated by the central government with the passage of a relevant law by the legislators, Luo said.

The other solution is to create better job opportunities so that many taxi drivers will have more choices, he added.

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