【Kaohsiung News】The “Taxi Bus Promotional Video Release and Achievements Forum” held by the Transportation Bureau of Kaohsiung City Government took place at the Open University of Kaohsiung on May 26. The forum features the shuttle taxi service to showcase the beauty of rural areas in Kaohsiung and the City’s Public Transportation that caters to its citizens’ needs. The aim was to generate a discussion on the importance of the shuttle taxi service to rural residents from different angles through story sharing and opinion exchange sessions.
At the forum, the Deputy Director-General of the Directorate General of Highways, Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MOTC) Huang Yung-Kuei pointed out that the MOTC is continuing its effort to develop rural public transportation services. Through the integration of cross-departmental resources and the adoption of diversified, flexible, and demand-responsive service models, the MOTC is increasing the accessibility of public transportation, assisting in improving rural traffic, and striving towards the goal of perfecting last mile service.
Huang Yung-Kuei praised the Transportation Bureau of Kaohsiung City Government for collaborating with the MOTC to offer the rural happiness taxi service. Currently, the service in Kaohsiung runs 50 routes, which is the most in Taiwan. With mobility and convenience of taxis, the service replaced bus routes with low usage rates to provide a more solid solution for citizens living in remote mountainous areas, better ensuring their rights to transportation.
The Director-General of the Transportation Bureau Cheng Yung-Hsiang pointed out that Kaohsiung City has a special dispersion pattern with a higher population density in urban areas. The launch of the shuttle taxi service links transportation between rural and urban areas, which is in line with Kaohsiung City Government’s policy: “Cater to both rural and urban areas; Kaohsiung is one.” With the increasing numbers of seniors and people with reduced mobility in Kaohsiung, an accessible taxi fleet, which cooperates with health facilities in the promotion of long-term care 2.0, was also formed to provide vulnerable groups with a better shuttle service.
A video interviewed the Director-General of the Bureau, local rural residents, and taxi drivers to share information about the service with fellow citizens in the hope of promoting the convenient taxi bus service in Kaohsiung City. Four videos were played during the forum, which received positive responses from the participants.
At the story sharing session, Chairman of Crown Taxi Wu Jyun-De who undertook the taxi bus service, Chairman of Yuemei community Lin Yun-Cyuan, and Chief of Jhongliao Village Hong Wan-Siang were invited to share stories about the arrival of the taxi bus service to the community. Chairman Lin especially mentioned the experience of his father being assisted by taxi buses to go to the hospital, and remarked that the happy taxi project has indeed catered to local residents’ needs.
At the opinion exchange session, Huang Yung-Kuei, Cheng Yung-Hsiang, Professor at Feng Chia University Hou Sheng-Tsung, and Founder of OurCityLove Social Enterprise Lin Chong-Wey pointed out three benefits of the taxi bus service: saving transportation expense for rural residents, improving safety through vehicles with GPS systems, and ensuring citizens’ rights to transportation with regular dispatches. In addition, they acknowledged Kaohsiung City Government’s outstanding achievement in promoting the taxi bus service.