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From September 2005 to August 2017, the total amount in overdue parking fees in Taipei City declined by over NT$25.8 million (US$805,000)
According to Taipei City Parking Management and Development Office (PMDO) statistics, the accumulated amount owed by the city’s top parking fee defaulter for the period from the start of September 2005 to the end of 2016 totaled just over NT$4.36 million (US$139,000).
Although amendments to the Road Traffic Management and Penalty Act were passed in September 2005 regarding procedures for issuing roadside parking slips, sending reminder notices, recovering parking fees and reporting violations, the PMDO did not take legal action against parking fee defaulters until 2009. Later, the Taipei Branch of the Ministry of Justice dismissed the cases due to procedural errors on the part of the PMDO, including not providing all of the required documentation. Effective legal action against the top 50 parking fee defaulters was taken in 2010 and 2011, while the parking fee enforcement management system was established in December 2015. As of the end of August 2017, the total irrecoverable amount in owed parking fees due to the statute of limitations had reached more than NT$200 million (US$6.37 million). The PMDO’s failure to rigorously carry out collection of roadside parking fees led to a substantial accumulated total in unpaid fees, and its failure to properly plan out and implement methods for forced recovery of overdue fees through the legal system resulted in huge losses in public revenue due to the statute of limitations.
The Control Yuan launched an investigation into the aforementioned deficiencies, and in its final report issued corrective measures to the PMDO to improve the situation. For the period from September 2005 to August 2017, the total amount in overdue parking fees in Taipei City declined by over NT$25.8 million (US$805,000), including handling fees, with the number of cases dropping by 266,485, according to statistics released at the end of 2018. Parking space is difficult to find in Taipei City, so willful nonpayment is unfair to car owners who abide by the law and pay their fees. If parking fee collection is not strictly enforced, this could encourage such violations. Following the CY’s investigation, the PMDO installed related system technology and enhanced relevant procedures with the aim of improving the parking fee recovery mechanism’s efficiency and effectiveness.
Source: Control Yuan, Taiwan
