Department of Transportation

The Rotary International District 3520, which has long been devoted to care about people with disabilities, donated 4 minibuses to Taipei City for delivery of special transportation service for people with disabilities. This was a great help for Taipei City in promotion of barrier-free transportation service. On June 28, the Vice-Mayor, Mr. Chiu, in representation of all Taipei citizens, attended the donation ceremony held by the Rotary International District 3520, and showed our appreciation for its kindness.
As commented by the Taipei Public Transportation Office, currently there are 170 minibuses providing the special transportation service to people with various physical and mental disabilities for purposes of seeking medical care, study, work and leisure and recreation. Each minibus is equipped with a wheelchair elevator. The fare is only 1/3 of daytime taxi fares. People with disabilities can access to this service simply by making a reservation according to relevant rules (In average, the minibuses delivered the special service for 37,970 times per month in 2011, and served 70,476 passengers.) One can say that this convenient and inexpensive transportation service indirectly encourages people with disabilities to go out and enjoy their lives.
The number of the minibuses for people with disabilities in Taipei City has been increasing, and relevant services and regulations have also been reviewed. The service delivery and quality thus have been effectively increased. During this period of time, many organizations and individuals made donations to purchase the minibuses were a significant help for having more minibuses delivering this special service. However, this number of minibuses is still not adequate to serve the currently more than 110,000 people with disabilities, particularly those with moderate and severe difficulty of walking (severe: for instance, vegetables, severe lower limb disability, severe sight disabilities and severe multi-disability (including limb disabilities)). To meet the demand of people with disabilities for transportation, while increasing the service efficiency by operational management and encouraging passengers to share one minibus, it is gradually promoting alternative transportation and other transportation services for people with mild and moderate disabilities (eg. minibus for the elderly, low-floor bus). Furthermore, based on the donations of the Rotary International District 3520, the Taipei Public Transportation Office would like to call on the public to make donations through private organizations so there will be more minibuses providing the special transportation service for people with disabilities, and the service will be more thorough.

2011-06-28