TAIPEI, TAIWAN — Taoyuan International Airport Corp Tseng Dar-jen pledged Sunday to address the rampant “fake taxi driver” problem outside the airport’s arrival halls, after the situation was again brought to light by social media users.
National Taiwan University professor Chang Hsueh-kung in a Facebook post accused the fake taxi drivers of creating a chaotic transportation situation by holding up traffic as he left the airport himself.
Describing the chaos “unbearable,” Chang urged the Transportation Minister Ho Chen-tan to resolve the mess.
He made a direct appeal to Tseng, commenting under his post : “Darjen Tseng Chairman, where are you?”
In a response to the comment, Tseng wrote on Sunday morning that he acknowledged fake taxi drivers were a “hidden danger” to the airport’s management and were also a “stain that needed cleaning up.”
“The root of the situation is quite complicated,” Tseng wrote, but added that a meeting had been called between management across different departments to come up with a possible solution.
As of now, the airport management would step up inspections and patrols to drive away the fake taxi drivers.
In the long term, Tseng said stricter enforcement of the law must be implemented.
Chang’s Facebook post received telling responses, with many users describing similar experiences.
Some wrote that arrivals preparing to leave the airport after 10 p.m. would most definitely get accosted by fake taxi drivers looking for business, while others called the situation “damaging to the country’s image.”
A user wrote that unless public transportation met demand, the fake taxi drivers would continue to make up for the lack of supply, as certified taxi drivers were less willing to drive late at night and few public bus services were unavailable late at night at the airport.
