00:00This stretch of Provincial Highway 64 in northern Taiwan is the scene of a fatal accident that has caught the nation's attention.
00:08Shortly after 2 a.m. on February 25th, a passenger surnamed Wen, who had been riding in an app-based taxi,
00:16was allegedly forced out of the vehicle by his driver here.
00:19He was then struck by four different cars, killing him.
00:23The driver says Wen was drunk and argued with him.
00:26He says Wen kept kicking the back of his seat, which is why he made him get out of the car.
00:32But Wen's friend tells a different story.
00:42Ride-hailing platform Bolt, the app that Wen called the taxi through,
00:47says it's deeply saddened by the incidents and will fully cooperate with the authorities' investigation.
00:53The company says it suspended the driver.
00:55The details of the case are still disputed.
00:58But transportation officials say the driver broke the law by stopping on an expressway
01:03and forcing a passenger out of his car.
01:05They also found he was registered with other platform fleets, which is illegal in Taiwan.
01:11They've slapped Bolt with a fine of around $950 for not checking.
01:16This isn't the first time a passenger has been kicked out of an app-based taxi unexpectedly.
01:33Last May, a 13-year-old girl was left on the side of the road after she changed the drop-off sites during her ride.
01:39But taxi drivers say when incidents like this happen, drivers and fleets must shoulder all the blame.
01:45They only told me to partner with this system, which system can be partnered with.
01:49But in terms of the law, the government's規範,
01:52they didn't say that when the car was partnered with the system,
01:56what's their rights, rights, and responsibility?
02:00But when the situation happened, these怪獸, these rich people,
02:04they can't do it because the law has no limits.
02:08They put the car in front, so they don't have any responsibility.
02:13Platforms like boats and Uber work with multiple taxi fleets,
02:17but laws mainly govern the fleets and individual drivers,
02:20while ride-hailing platforms themselves remain largely unregulated.
02:24That's prompted costs to strengthen Taiwan's laws, so that in the events of tragedies like
02:29the one on Highway 64, accountability is spread evenly. Andy Hsieh and Ellen Lu for Taiwan Plus.
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