AFTER FOUR YEARS, UBER ANNOUNCES HALT FROM FEB. 10|違法載客4年 公路總局勒令歇業 Uber聲明停止派車

As one means of transport to the airport is added, another is taken away. Uber announced yesterday that it will suspend its services in Taiwan from Feb. 10. The company has been in a long-running dispute with the authorities, and the announcement came shortly after the government ordered it to close down and slapped it with fines that totaled more than 200 million NT dollars. The suspension would not affect UberEATS, a meal takeaway service that the ride-hailing service company also offers. Here's our report. Last month Uber announced that it would cooperate with legal taxi companies to create a free taxi hailing platform. However, the Directorate General of Highways found that Uber had continued to dispatch unlicensed vehicles. Therefore, as well as incurring heavy fines, it must also close down its business. Between Jan. 6 and 20, the DGH intercepted 48 Uber vehicles and in accordance with the new legal amendment, on the first working day after the Lunar New Year holiday, ordered Uber to shut down. ==HO CHEN TAN MOTC Minister== We believe that even with the legal terms and conditions on our side, Uber will still, with its scope of knowledge and legal requirements, come to discuss these with us, and will still take advantage of this opportunity for discussion. No-one wants to paint themselves into a corner. Uber has operated in Taiwan for four years, but as it was not legally registered as a transport company, it accumulated fines of over NT$1.1 billion. Now facing an order to close from the authorities, Uber announced that starting Feb. 10, it would close its ride-sharing service in Taiwan and hoped to start discussions with the government in the hope of offering services in the future. ==KU LI-KAI General Manager Uber Taiwan == We hope in the future that Uber will still have an opportunity to offer services, more innovative services, in Taiwan. ==MEMBER OF PUBLIC== It is unfair to Uber. I don't use Uber myself, but I think it should be able to compete fairly with taxis, I don't see anything wrong with that. ==MEMBER OF PUBLIC== It's like online auction sites, they don't sell things, they are a platform, so I think it is reasonable that Uber is classed as an information service. Analysts think that this can't be seen as the government obstruction of innovative industries, but it is a case based on the fact that Uber did not cooperate with Taiwan's taxi industry from the start. ==LIN CHIH-CHEN Chair, Taiwan Internet and E-Commerce Association== The problem that Uber encountered is that when it entered Taiwan it decided to cooperate with illegal and private vehicles, but didn't cooperate with taxis. In most of Taiwan's cities, there is an oversupply of taxis, so it met a strong pushback from taxi companies and their drivers. Analysts say that Taiwan's current transport laws are old and date from before online ride-hailing platforms. Now would be a good time to review whether these are currently relevant. TRANSLATED BY：CLARE LEAR Uber上個月大動作宣布，將與計程車業合作，免費提供叫車平台，但交通部公路認定，Uber違法派遣白牌車的部分依然違法，新修正的公路法規定，違法除了加重罰鍰，還得勒令歇業，而公路總局在1月6日到到1月20日間，已攔查48輛Uber，根據新法，春節後第一個上班日、對Uber祭出歇業裁處書。 ==交通部長 賀陳旦== 我們也相信即使 我們有我們單方面的條件達成 我相信Uber它還是會去 就它所認知的範圍以及法規上面 再來跟我們做相關的探討 我想我們再把握這些溝通的機會 大家不要走到絕路 Uber在台營業四年，因沒有依法申請為運輸服務業，累計被開罰超過11億元，面對主管機關勒令歇業，Uber公司隨後發表聲明，下周五開始將暫停Uber在台灣的車輛分享媒合平台服務。希望能重啟和政府對話，未來有機會繼續服務。 == Uber總經理 顧立楷== 希望可見的未來 Uber再度有機會服務台灣 為台灣帶來更多創新的機會 ==民眾== 對Uber來說蠻不公平的 因為我自己也是Uber的用戶 我覺得就是可以跟計程車 就是這些同業公平競爭 我覺得這沒有什麼不好 ==民眾== 就像拍賣網 可是 你拍賣網本身不負責賣東西 它是一個平台 所以我認為 Uber它是一個資訊平台蠻合理的 有專家認為，這並不能視為是政府阻擋創新產業，而是個案問題，根源在於Uber沒有一開始就和台灣計程車合作。 ==台灣網路暨電子商務產業發展協會理事長 林之晨== Uber它碰到的問題 是因為它進到台灣的時候 一開始選擇跟黑頭車 跟私家車合作 但沒有跟計程車合作 台灣在大部分的城市 其實計程車是供過於求的 所以它碰到了一個很大的 來自計程車行車隊　 以及司機們的反彈 專家也建議，目前政府對於運輸產業的法條訂定，是在網路叫車平台出現之前的舊法，也許可藉此機會，重新檢視，相關法規是否還適用於現狀。 記者 薛宜家 林志堅 張梓嘉 台北報導