The Ministry of Transport has announced an amendment to the "Operation Measures for Application and Approval of Taxi Passenger Transport Service Industry" and plans to take over the management of taxi-hailing platforms. Zhou Liwei, the founder of the taxi matching platform "Call Xiao Huang", said that he agrees with the goal of improving ride safety, but the draft follows the management framework of traditional dispatch fleets and ties traffic safety training to whether drivers join the fleet or the platform. This may cause more drivers to choose not to join, which is inconsistent with the original intention of amending the law.
Zhou Liwei explained that the matchmaking platform operates similar to an e-commerce platform. Drivers are independent operators. After consumers enter the conditions for calling a ride, the platform matches nearby drivers, and then the consumers compare and choose on their own. This is essentially different from the traditional fleet’s high-level management model of drivers. The draft does not take into account the differences between platforms and fleets. “If this method is applied to us, it will mean that we become a fleet to manage drivers, which is completely different from our original relationship with drivers.”
He also pointed out that after applying this measure, platform operators must set up branches in each business area and obtain 150 vehicles to participate in operations and other thresholds, which is out of touch with the way online services operate. The service scope of many platforms covers the entire Taiwan, but in outlying islands, rural areas and other areas, the local market size simply cannot reach the 150-vehicle threshold. This revision of the law regulates the platform based on the thinking of traditional fleets, which not only ignores the different operating models of the platform, but also raises the threshold for new services, which is detrimental to the overall digitization of the taxi industry.
Regarding the new requirement in the draft that dispatch operators must provide drivers with at least three hours of educational training every six months and arrange for high-risk drivers to attend operational safety lectures, Zhou Liwei believes that if the purpose of the legislation is safety, the distinction should not be based on whether the driver has joined a fleet or platform, but should be differentiated based on whether the driver is a high-risk driver. "Safety should be required by all drivers, not just those who join a fleet or platform."
Zhou Liwei suggested that road traffic safety-related training should return to the responsibilities of the competent authorities. The role of the platform is to confirm that drivers have completed the requirements of the competent authorities, just like it is now confirmed that drivers hold valid practice registration certificates and have insurance.
He also mentioned practical difficulties: If a driver joins three platforms at the same time, according to the draft, each platform must undergo 3 hours of training every six months, which may total 18 hours in a year. Although the draft allows operators to jointly conduct training, there are still doubts about how it will be adopted in practice.
Zhou Liwei estimates that if there is no difference in requiring driver training, assuming that there are about 100,000 drivers in Taiwan and each driver receives 6 hours of training per year, and based on the Ministry of Transportation's "114-year Taxi Operation Status Survey", it is estimated that the average hourly revenue of full-time drivers is about 246 yuan. All drivers spend time on education and training every year, which is equivalent to a loss of nearly 150 million yuan in revenue.
According to the "114-year Taxi Operation Status Survey" report, the main reason for 49.4% of full-time drivers who have not joined the dispatch fleet is "unwilling to be restricted by fleet management." Zhou Liwei is worried that if the burden of joining a fleet or platform continues to increase, more drivers may choose not to join. "Whether the platform is dispatching or matching, there are records that can be checked, and any problems can be investigated. If a problem arises for drivers who have not joined, it will be more difficult to find someone to take responsibility."
In response to concerns about passenger safety, Zhou Liwei believes that improving service quality should start with screening, and recommends establishing a reporting mechanism. After the platform accepts consumer complaints, if serious situations such as sexual harassment or arbitrary packet loss are involved, each platform will report it to the competent authorities, who will then decide whether to revoke the driving registration certificate. "In this way, drivers in the entire industry will become better." He also believes that the entry threshold for taxi drivers should be reviewed to screen out unqualified drivers before problems occur, instead of waiting for an accident to be held accountable.
