MOTC SUGGESTS UBER OPERATES IN REMOTE AREAS FOR SENIORS|Uber下週五叫停 交通部:可考慮服務偏鄉

After a long battle with the government, Uber is pretty much throwing in the towel by suspending its service in Taiwan, where the company has been operating since 2013. Meanwhile, Uber has accumulated NT$1.1 billion in fines within a month after a new law took effect that places a bounty on Uber drivers, and rewards people financially for reporting them to police. The Ministry of Transportation said there is still room for discussion as long as Uber is willing to register as a taxi company and provide service in remote areas. After being ordered to close down and facing heavy fines, Uber announced on Feb. 2 that it would halt operations in Taiwan. The Ministry of Transportation and Communications commended Uber for being willing to stop its illegal business. It even said that if Uber was willing to operate in remote areas for elderly people there was room for discussion. The MOTC's pronouncement was met with astonishment by both drivers and the public alike, who find it highly unlikely that the older generation in remote areas will be familiar with call-sharing apps. ==MR. HUANG Hualien== Seniors using a ride share call app? Basically they don't know how, I think that's a bit of a big obstacle. ==MR. WU Hualien taxi driver== Taipei taxi drivers are all protesting against Uber, and for a small place like us, it's even worse, life is hard enough as it is, if Uber comes here, isn't that going to make it worse for us? Whether there is a market for Uber in remote countryside and whether it will cooperate with legal taxi services there is an unknown quantity. The MOTC said the first remote areas for such a ride-match service would be Hualien and Taitung's mountain areas where there were no taxi services. Basically, where there are no taxi services, the MOTC may research changing the law and allow Uber to operate as a legal ride-match taxi service. However, the premise for this is legal compliance and this means re-applying and coming under management, insurance and safety regulations. Uber responded that if Uber is to be categorized as a taxi service there is no room for flexibility. ==KU LI-CHIEH CEO, Uber Taiwan== We would like to ask the government if there is any flexibility in current legislation so that the ride-sharing industry can continue to develop? ==HU TI-CHI senior technician MOTC Highways and Railway Dept.== Taxi services industries don't require you to own vehicles, the only difference is how you match the vehicles, if Uber is willing to cooperate with our transport services in a ride-match service, I think that is the same as a technology service. The MOTC said if Uber first registers as a taxi service, takes on multiple taxi services and has professional drivers and registered cars, then the method used for calling cars would not be too different to what it was doing originally. It hoped that Uber would not continue to refer to itself as a technology company and would register as a taxi company then details could be discussed. TRANSLATED BY：CLARE LEAR 公路總局對Uber祭出「勒令歇業」裁罰書，而Uber隨後表示，2月10號起，將暫時停止在台服務，交通部昨天對Uber 願意停止違法行為表達肯定，並表示如果Uber能夠合法納入計程車業管理，那麼在偏鄉服務，就有討論空間。 被勒令歇業、也不敵高額罰金，Uber周四宣布，2月10日起暫停叫車服務。對此，交通部表示樂見Uber在台，停止違法行為，並進一步釋出善意說，Uber若願意投入偏鄉服務，就有討論空間。只是一聽到交通部要讓Uber在偏鄉服務，不但有司機反彈，民眾也認為，偏鄉長者居多，要用APP叫車有難度。 ==花蓮民眾 黃先生== 長輩要用APP 基本上他們都(不會用) 我覺得這就是很大的一個門檻 ==花蓮計程車駕駛 吳先生== 台北都已經在抗議了 何況我們這個小地方 生活都那麼困難了 他們再來這邊的話 那不是增加我們的一個壓力嗎 Uber在偏鄉有沒有市場、有沒有可能結合鄉下慣有的白牌車來經營，還是未知數。但交通部表示，偏鄉服務會優先選擇在花東及中南部山區的交通服務空白區，也就是說連計程車都服務不到的地點，才可能研擬修法，開放給Uber媒合白牌車來做載客服務。但前提還是必須合法化，同時重申必須遵守納管、納保、納險的三納原則，對此，Uber則發表聲明，認為要 Uber 定位在計程車業，沒有任何彈性鬆綁空間，就像是喝湯硬是要用筷子一樣。 ==Uber台灣區總經理 顧立楷== 我們的問題就是說 想請問政府這邊 是否在現行的法規 有沒有一些鬆動的空間 可以讓車輛分享的這個產業 繼續發展下去 ==交通部路政司簡任技正 胡迪琦== （計程車）客運服務業 本來就沒有要你擁有車輛啊 唯一的差別只在於說 你到底要媒合自用車輛 還是媒合營業車輛 那如果說Uber願意走向 我們運輸業來合作 來媒合營業車輛 其實我覺得 跟科技服務是一致的 交通部表示，Uber如果可以先登記計程車客運服務業，再接受多元計程車方案，媒合有職業駕照的司機，與合法登記的車輛，這樣的叫車方式，其實和現行的Uber叫車服務沒有太大差別。希望Uber不要再堅持自己是資訊業，只要合法登記為計程車客運服務業，相關細節都可再討論。 記者 李志華 彭耀祖 台北報導