Department of Transportation

A member of the Taipei City Council questioned today (May 12) why the number of complaints increased and service efficiency decreased after the special service minibus booking system was established. The Taipei Public Transportation Office replied that the main cause was probably due to the conversion of service type to the new booking system, and that people were not familiar with the system operation. Feedback and complaints originally made to the minibus company were transferred to the Office. The Office would continue make changes according to the feedback, and provide better service.
As questioned by the member of the Taipei City Council, the number of complaints about special minibus service in 2014 was 642, which increased by about 400 as compared with that in 2013. Most of them complained about the booking system. The member believed that integration of special service minibus bookings caused more complaints. In response to that from the Taipei Public Transportation Office, more complaints received after the booking system was just established and integrated with the phone booking because customer service stuff were not very familiar with the new system while the system was still working to become stable. Before the integration, some complaints were made directly to the minibus company, but after the integration, complaints were transferred to the Office, giving higher total number of complaints. The Office inspected and reviewed the whole service system after receiving complaints, and made some changes such as more phone lines and customer service stuff, running stuff training, and simplifying system operations. At the moment, the service efficiency has increased whereas number of complaints has gradually decreased. The Office then made a denial of the claim by the member of city council that the service load and efficiency decreased. The total number of cases served by special service minibus in 2014 was 660,000. This number was higher than that, 650,000, in 2013. Completion rate of booking in March 2015 for various types of disabilities reached more than 94% (Special Type A 99%, Type A1 97%, Type A2 95%, Type B 94%). The Office further explained why the service efficiency looked like going down based on the aforementioned statistics. The service load depended on demand, and most people required the service during peak hours so the service load during other hours was much lower. The resulted in lower average service load. Therefore, it was inappropriate to relate this result to the booking system.
Some people complained that they received no service after making bookings. The Office stressed that the special service minibus company should provide the service as agreed in the contract. If such case is found true, the company will be subject to fines in accordance with the regulations stipulated in the contract.

2015-05-12