Taipei City Government

The 1999 hotline for citizen now provides language service for taxi drivers including English and Japanese. Taxi drivers who require foreign language interpretation can dial 1999 for help. The new service will help taxi driver communicate with foreign passengers. Good communication will avoid unnecessary misunderstanding and better service quality.
There were cases that taxi drivers drove foreign tourists to wrong places and had disputes because they were not able to understand or speak foreign languages. This unfortunately could give a negative impression to foreign tourists. Thus, following the implementation of Taipei City Mayor’s new policy, the language service for taxi drivers became available to assist taxi drivers in solving communication difficulty. It was expected to uplift taxi service quality. From the date of announcement, the 1999 hotline would provide English and Japanese interpretation service for 24 hours a day. To access this service, taxi drivers or foreign tourists simply dial 1999. In the meantime, other languages such as Korean would not be available as they are less demanded; however, foreigners could still seek help by dialing 0800-011765.
The Taipei Public Transportation Office finally stressed that advertising stickers about this new service have been published and will be sent to all taxi service stations and taxi driver’s association in Taipei. Taxi drivers are welcome attach the sticker on your taxi. When you carry foreign tourists, stay at ease and dial 1999 for help.