Cab fares in non-metropolitan areas of Taiwan are seldom calculated by taxi meters, but mainly decided by verbal agreements between drivers and customers, which often lead to disputes after the recent municipality upgrades. And the Consumer Protection Commission, having received passenger complaints in Taichung, now demands a more reasonable rate system.

For some people who are going to the airport, they have the choice of paying a flat fee or use the taximeter to calculate the fare.

For most people, it is logical to use the taximeter to calculate the fare for short duration of a ride, but for those destinations that are further, some taxi driver would prefer the passenger paying a flat fee.

Take the trip from Taichung city downtown to Chinchuan Kang airport, the metered rate would be NT$450, and the asking flat rate would be NT$500.

If the destination is KaoMei wetland that is more than 30 kilometers away, the metered rate would be NT$730 and the asking flat rate would be around NT$850, and thats not all, if metered rate is picked, the taxi driver might take the long route to make the fare even more when compared to the asking flat rate.

According to regulation, taxi drivers can only charge passengers fares according to taxi meter.

Some passenger filed a complaint to the Consumer Protection Commission that, the ride from Fengyuan to Wu Ri High speed rail station would takes 30 minutes, which is faster than circling in Taichung city, but the taxi driver would ask for the extra fare for going out of the county.

Taxi driver said that, its up to the passenger how they want to pay for the service.

Taichung consumer protection commission said that, there are currently no laws preventing such way of charging the passengers when taxi travel across zones.

There are some rural areas in the merged new Greater Taichung city, taxi drivers are advised to post clear instruction on charges pertaining to distance or certain rural areas to prevent disputes.

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