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進入《TAIPEI TIMES》 Ministry to study raising incentives to boost wheelchair-accessible taxis
Deputy Minister of Transportation and Communications Wang Kwo-tsai responds to questions from legislators at a meeting of the Legislative Yuan’s Transportation Committee in Taipei yesterday. Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
By Shelley Shan / Staff Reporter
The Ministry of Transportation and Communications （MOTC） yesterday said it would study the possibility of increasing incentives to encourage more taxi drivers to offer wheelchair-accessible services.
The ministry was scheduled to brief the lawmakers on the Legislature’s Transportation Committee about the progress in facilitating the development of nationwide barrier-free transportation services.
Democratic Progressive Party （DPP） Legislators Lin Chun-hsien （林俊憲） and Lee Kun-tse （李昆澤） said that a lack of incentives was the main reason that most taxi drivers are hesitant to offer wheelchair-accessible services.
There are about 1.17 million physically challenged people and 3.43 million elderly people in the nation, Lin said, adding that they account for about 14.5 percent of the total population.
While most of the physically challenged or elderly people would have to depend on wheelchair-accessible taxis if they do not have disability cards, the number of such taxis accounts for about 1 percent of the national total, Lin said, citing a Control Yuan report.
There are only 927 wheelchair-accessible taxis funded by the government since 2013, he added.
DPP Legislator Wu Yu-chin （吳玉琴） said a 2012 amendment to the Transportation Management Regulations （汽車運輸業管理規則） allows drivers of wheelchair-accessible taxis to offer the service with vans or small travel wagons, provided that they undergo training first.
Unlike the rehabilitation bus service, which charges passengers one-third of regular taxi fares, the fares of wheelchair-accessible taxis are about two to three times higher than regular taxi fares.
She said that an elderly friend of hers recently paid NT$1,700 to ride a wheelchair-accessible taxi, adding that many of the drivers do not charge passengers by the amount on the meter.
Although the drivers receive a NT$50 subsidy per trip when they transport physically challenged or elderly passengers, Wu said that taxi drivers prefer to take passengers to tourist attractions rather than transport physically challenged passengers, as they view the latter as a time-consuming hassle.
A higher number of wheelchair-accessible taxis should be made available during daytime, Wu said.
Deputy Minister of Transportation and Communications Wang Kwo-tsai （王國材） said that the government offers taxi drivers a subsidy of NT$400,000 and commodity tax exemption of about NT$200,000 when purchasing a wheelchair-accessible vehicle.
However, despite the subsidy, Wang said that drivers still have to pay a substantial amount on their own.
Wheelchair-accessible taxi drivers receiving government subsidies are obligated to offer at least 50 trips per month for physically challenged passengers, Wang said, adding that there are not still enough wheelchair-accessible taxis to meet demand.
The ministry would review the incentives available to taxi drivers who want to upgrade to wheelchair-accessible taxis, he said.
DPP Legislator Wang Jung-chang （王榮璋） said that the ministry’s briefing failed to address whether physically challenged people can easily and conveniently access transport systems and whether those needs can be fully met.
It has been 30 years since the nation began implementing its barrier-free transportation policy, but disabled parking spaces are still occupied by vehicles without permits, he said.
Motorcycle riders use the buffer zone between disabled parking spaces to park their scooters, he added.
Some bus drivers still have trouble using the bridge plates to help disabled passengers get on buses, Wang Jung-chang said.
Wang Jung-chang also proposed several amendments to the Road Traffic Management and Penalty Act （道路交通管理處罰條例）.
One of them seeks to raise the fines for motorists who do not yield to visually impaired pedestrians on crosswalks or when making turns from NT$1,200 to NT$2,400 and from NT$2,400 to NT$7,200 respectively.
新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES
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