The number of taxis in Taiwan that are equipped to carry disabled passengers has doubled since 2014, but it is still insufficient to meet a rising demand caused by an increase in the aging population, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications said yesterday.
In 2014, the ministry began subsidizing taxi operators so they could purchase vehicles to offer a “barrier-free” service to disabled passengers. Since then, the number of taxis that are able to carry disabled passengers has grown from 196 in 2014 to 417.
The ministry has set a goal of raising the number to 500 by the end of this year.
Department of Railways and Highways Director-General Lin Chi-kuo (林繼國) said that the ministry is considering amending the regulations governing the appropriation of the subsidies to taxi operators to increase the incentive for taxi drivers, such as raising the subsidies for drivers to purchase appropriate cars.
According to a report published by the National Development Council in 2014, Taiwan is to officially become an aging society by 2018 and could even become an ultra-aging society by 2025.
The ministry yesterday presented the results of its program and invited taxi drivers and the service users to share their experiences.
Chan Wei- sheng (詹惟勝) is a taxi driver with Crown Taxi and has been carrying disabled passengers for three-and-a-half years. A father with two developmentally delayed children, Chan said that he understands what the family members of disabled passengers have been through, because he has to take his children to therapy sessions multiple times each month.
He said that it takes no more than 10 minutes to help passengers get into or out of his vehicle.
Chan said that while the service remains inaccessible to some disabled passengers, there should be enough cars to meet the demand.
“Most of the passengers who need to have dialysis or other medical treatment at hospital call for the service during the daytime, which leads to a shortage in ‘barrier-free’ taxis during certain hours of the day,” Chang said, adding that there should be a technical way to allocate the time more efficiently.
Lin Cheng-wei (林政緯), who became physically disabled in 2007, was told about the service when he was about to attend a singing contest at a television station.
“It was a typhoon day. I know the Rehabus in Taipei would be canceled. Somebody told me about the service and fortunately it was still available on a typhoon day,” he said.
While Lin managed to get to the studio in Taipei’s Nangang District (南港) in time for the recording of the show, he was afraid that he might not get a taxi to go back home.
“The taxi driver volunteered to wait for us, and he waited from 9:30pm to 12:30am,” Lin said.
WANG RELEASED: A police investigation showed that an organized crime group allegedly taught their clients how to pretend to be sick during medical exams Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) and 11 others were released on bail yesterday, after being questioned for allegedly dodging compulsory military service or forging documents to help others avoid serving. Wang, 33, was catapulted into stardom for his role in the coming-of-age film Our Times (我的少女時代). Lately, he has been focusing on developing his entertainment career in China. The New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office last month began investigating an organized crime group that is allegedly helping men dodge compulsory military service using falsified documents. Police in New Taipei City Yonghe Precinct at the end of last month arrested the main suspect,
Eleven people, including actor Darren Wang (王大陸), were taken into custody today for questioning regarding the evasion of compulsory military service and document forgery, the New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said. Eight of the people, including Wang, are suspected of evading military service, while three are suspected of forging medical documents to assist them, the report said. They are all being questioned by police and would later be transferred to the prosecutors’ office for further investigation. Three men surnamed Lee (李), Chang (張) and Lin (林) are suspected of improperly assisting conscripts in changing their military classification from “stand-by
LITTORAL REGIMENTS: The US Marine Corps is transitioning to an ‘island hopping’ strategy to counterattack Beijing’s area denial strategy The US Marine Corps (USMC) has introduced new anti-drone systems to bolster air defense in the Pacific island chain amid growing Chinese military influence in the region, The Telegraph reported on Sunday. The new Marine Air Defense Integrated System (MADIS) Mk 1 is being developed to counter “the growing menace of unmanned aerial systems,” it cited the Marine Corps as saying. China has constructed a powerful defense mechanism in the Pacific Ocean west of the first island chain by deploying weapons such as rockets, submarines and anti-ship missiles — which is part of its anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) strategy against adversaries — the
A cat named Mikan (蜜柑) has brought in revenue of more than NT$10 million (US$305,390) for the Kaohsiung MRT last year. Mikan, born on April 4, 2020, was a stray cat before being adopted by personnel of Kaohsiung MRT’s Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station. Mikan was named after a Japanese term for mandarin orange due to his color and because he looks like an orange when curled up. He was named “station master” of Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station in September 2020, and has since become famous. With Kaohsiung MRT’s branding, along with the release of a set of cultural and creative products, station master Mikan
RSS