Tour bus trade associations yesterday issued a statement criticizing the Ministry of Transportation and Communications for requiring tour buses to install a GPS tracking system and card reader, saying they planned to protest on Aug. 26.
After a bus in 2017 crashed on the freeway and killed 33 people, mostly elderly people on a day trip organized by Iris Travel Service Co (蝶戀花), the ministry has subsidized the installation of GPS tracking systems on 10,856 tour buses. The driver was speeding and possibly overworked.
A real-time GPS tracker issues a warning if a bus is traveling at an abnormal speed, if the driver has been driving for too long, if the bus entered a no-travel section or if the bus is overdue for a service.
Photo: CNA
The ministry said it is considering whether to require card readers to be installed on tour buses to confirm drivers’ identities and working hours.
New Taipei City Touring-bus Craft Union for the Drivers president Hsu Ching-hsiang (許景翔) and Taiwan Tourism Bus Carrier Development Association president Lee Shih-chia (李式嘉) yesterday issued a statement, saying that “practical” education and training for drivers is more crucial.
Intercepting GPS signals from the buses runs counter to freedom of private communications, which is protected by the Constitution, so bus companies should only be required to provide GPS tracking data to investigators after a serious accident occurs, the statement said.
The Labor Standards Act (勞動基準法) covers regulations for labors’ working hours, so the working hour limits set by the ministry’s Highway Bureau are confusing, the statement said.
Hsu said he is not against tour buses installing a GPS tracker and a card reader, but they should be managed by the bus firms and fully paid for by the ministry, as the installation fee for a GPS tracker is about NT$4,000 and the rental fee is about NT$160 per month.
The bureau has been planning to offer bus driving courses in mountainous areas and on freeways for inexperienced drivers, said Liang Kuo-kuo (梁郭國), director of the bureau’s Transportation Division.
It must first reach a consensus with the Federation of Highway and Intercity Bus Companies in Taiwan on the content of the training courses, he said.
The bureau would continue to discuss the issue of access to GPS tracking data with trade associations and unions before making it a regulation, Liang said.
Once the GPS tracking systems are installed, the bureau would assist the companies in enhancing safety management and improving public safety outcomes, he said.
As for bus drivers’ working hours, the Transportation Management Regulations (汽車運輸業管理規則) govern driving and rest time requirements for bus drivers, with the Labor Standards Act as a guideline, but taking into account job characteristics and safety, the bureau said.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by
RSS