NT$30 holiday taxi surcharge comes into effect in Taipei, New Taipei, Keelung

NT$30 holiday taxi surcharge comes into effect in Taipei, New Taipei, Keelung

2023-01-17

Holiday surcharges came into effect on Tuesday for taxis in Taipei, New Tapei and Keelung. The additional fare of NT$30 will be in effect for 13 days until Jan. 29. Taxi drivers say that, although it’s supposed to be a bonus, the higher fares could result in fewer passengers during the festive season.

A passenger with a suitcase hops in a taxi. A sign has been put up at this taxi stand informing riders that for 13 days from Jan. 17 to Jan. 29, a holiday surcharge of NT$30 will be added to fares in Taipei, New Taipei and Keelung.

Passengers are divided on the extra fares. Some say it’s not much of a difference, while others say they’d rather take a bus or the MRT. Some cab drivers say they are afraid the surcharge will have an impact on passenger numbers.

Voice of cab driver
Business will likely be a little worse. Some people see the higher prices and decide not to take the taxi.

Cab driver
Every day when I go out in my taxi, it takes about 5 to 10 minutes for me to get a passenger. Now it’s more like 7 to 12 minutes.

The surcharges have been in effect for less than a day, but cabbies say they are already feeling a drop in passengers. Further impact on ridership could come on April 1, when base fares are set to go up from NT$70 to NT$85 in greater Taipei.

每趟加收30元! 北北基小黃今起實施"春節加成"

2023-01-17

從今天(17日)到1月29日，計程車開始實施春節加成，北北基每趟車資加收30元，為了省錢，不少民眾乾脆改搭公車、大眾運輸工具，也有計程車司機發現，從早上開始，叫車的人明顯減少了。

乘客拿著大包小包，準備搭計程車，上車會看到這張通知，從1月17日到29日，長達13天，都要實施春節加成，北北基每趟加收30元。

民眾反應不同，有人覺得差異不大，也有人因此說會改搭公車、捷運，就連計程車司機，也擔心，春節加成恐怕看得到，吃不到。

[[聲源: 計程車司機]]
“生意應該會比較差一點，人家感覺就是漲價不坐。”

[[計程車司機]]
“我每天早上出車，一排下去5分、10分就出車，現在可能要7分鐘、12分鐘。”

春節加成才剛實施半天，就有司機感覺到，叫車的人明顯變少了，接下來4月1日，公運處還公告，大台北的計程車費全面調整，起跳從70元漲到85元，影響恐怕會更大。

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Former chair Chen Yi-chi hands over a ceremonial brick representing the foundation of the party to Wang Hsing-huan. It’s the first change in leadership in the party since its establishment more than 10 years ago. Wang was asked whether the party would cooperate with the DPP.

Wang Hsing-huan
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On some political issues, the general direction of our nation and our rejection of China to protect Taiwan, we are definitely cooperating. When it comes to elections, our relationship is one based on competition between political parties. Of course we will take part in the legislative elections, both for directly-elected lawmakers and legislators-at-large. We will make plans for the election.

The event had a high turnout. Among the people in attendance was former Pingtung County Commissioner Pan Men-an, who caught much attention from media.

Pan Men-an
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Taiwan does not belong to a single party or a single person. It belongs to everyone. And it’s not a matter of just me or just you. We should all come together to think about the future of Taiwan. Over the past few years we have had a common appeal, and we have goals that take us in the same direction.

In the 2020 general elections, the party gained more than 3% of the vote in the party list vote, making it eligible for political party subsidies. In the 2022 local election, it had its best showing to date, winning one councilor seat each in Tainan and Kaohsiung. Pan says he attended the ceremony in a personal capacity, to celebrate with friends. Reporters asked him whether he was planning to join the Executive Yuan as minister of the interior and whether he was attending the event to pave the way for a possible presidential bid by Lai Ching-te in 2024.

Pan Men-an
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I don’t have any plans right now. I don’t know. I don’t really have an opinion to give you. For now I am staying in Pingtung. Whether there is a government restructuring or not depends on President Tsai.

Pan did not elaborate on his plans for the future, leaving much room for speculation.

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“Dawn” is based on the true story of a fire rescue operation from 2016. Houlong fire fighter Kuo Li-yuan wrote the song and lyrics based on a call-out the team received in the early hours one morning.

The alarm report said a mother and son were trapped in a fire. The woman judged that they couldn’t escape by themselves, so she shut the bedroom door to wait for fire fighters to arrive. Shutting the door was the action that kept the fire’s smoke and heat out of the room. It resulted in both mother and son getting safely rescued.

Hsiao Jen-fu
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We started with the mother and son as the center of the song. It’s about our state of mind after we, the fire department, arrived, and there was a mother and son and we could contact them and get them out.

The true story inspired Kuo, fire fighter and amateur musician. He asked his colleague Hsiao Jen-fu to direct a music video and found actors to take part.

Kuo had been a keen guitar player as a student, and whenever he had a moment to spare, he’d be found in the dormitory strumming and singing to himself. During the making of the MV, Kuo and Hsiao thought hard about how to make a promo video that would avoid the cliches of the normal instruction clips.

Kuo Li-yuan
Houlong Fire Department
Once we had fixed the tune, we kept on improving it. We had already started filming by that point. When we had worked out the basic length of time, we kept on improving it. After editing the lyrics and the tune I would ask him to check it. All in all, we must have gone through 50 different versions.

The lyrics smuggle in some important concepts about how to deal with a fire, which Kuo hopes will serve listeners who get into trouble. They include key points like, “Shut the door and wait for rescue,” “Don’t hide in the bathroom”, “Don’t cover your mouth with a wet cloth,” and “Don’t run upstairs if there’s smoke.”

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Cold weather is battering Taiwan, and for some people, that means problems in their homes. Shoddy building can make ceramic tiles vulnerable to changes in temperature. A tile that wasn’t laid properly can end up bulging from the floor or wall, after temperature changes pull it out of place. But there’s a way to check the solidity of your tiles at home – before they crack.

Take out a metal stick and give the floor tiles a tap. The solid tiles sound one way, but at a certain tile, there’s a different sound. That hollow noise indicates there’s probably a problem.

Yen Yu-hung
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It’s already hollow inside. Generally people don’t know about the problem. If it’s hollow, when the cold comes and temperature drops suddenly, the tile expands and contracts and starts to bulge out.

When the weather’s cold, some people find bulges or cracks like this in their floor tiles. Once perfectly even tiling starts to bulge and crack, and the concrete underneath can start to show. Sometimes cracks appear in bathroom walls, which can be a risk to residents. So then it’s time to call a tile setter urgently. One repair specialist says profits have soared more than 50% recently.

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I went past it and wondered “Why is that sticking out there?” Or sometimes I would stub my toe on something, and realize it seemed to be poking out. So I asked the tile installer to fix it as soon as possible.

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It’s a construction problem, because the concrete wasn’t set properly. Lots of people just want a quick job. The tiles should be glued down on the back, but they don’t do that. Another thing is they didn’t wipe the dust off the backs of the tiles like they should have.

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Even the eggs are fried in a special way. They go into the pan with cold oil, which is heated up slowly to fry the egg. These banh mi are a solid 7 centimeters thick! Lots of Vietnamese people come here to enjoy an authentic flavor from their homeland.

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They’re very similar to the ones in Vietnam.

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I think Vietnam feels a bit like Taiwan did when I was born. When I go to the Vietnamese countryside, I see lots of things that give me deja vu. I also see the ways in which it is developing really fast. It’s an enormous contrast. It has a very good side. The people are also very good-hearted.

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