Workplace English and Putonghua programme for taxi drivers launched

Learning English and Putonghua anywhere anytime becomes possible for taxi drivers from now on as they will be offered free CDs, cassette tapes and internet access to enhance their daily communication skills in both languages.

The Workplace English and Putonghua Programme for Taxi Drivers launched today (November 17) is for self-learning purpose. It comprises over 40,000 sets of learning kits and a homepage that contain easy and simple communication examples about greetings, asking for destinations, collecting fares, etc, and useful vocabularies that include names of popular streets and buildings.

Officiating at the launching ceremony of the Programme, the Chairman of the Ad Hoc Quality Taxi Services Steering Committee (QTSSC), Mr Jeffrey Lam, said that the Programme was one of the major schemes implemented by the Committee this year to improve the taxi service quality.

"Good language skills contribute to the easy communication between taxi drivers and their passengers, and this can enhance mutual understanding, reduce the chance of complaint and enable passengers to enjoy quality taxi services," he said.

Mr Lam urged taxi drivers to make full use of the self-learning kits to improve their service quality so as to meet passengers' expectations and to enhance Hong Kong's image as a world-class cosmopolitan city.

He said that the Committee was very grateful to the Workplace English Campaign Steering Committee for their funding support for the Programme.

The Chairman of the Workplace English Campaign Steering Committee Mr Michael Tien who also attended the ceremony said that the Committee was pleased to support the QTSSC's initiative in providing a self-learning Workplace English programme to taxi drivers. He was confident that the programme would help taxi drivers enhance their language proficiency and the quality of taxi service.

The Commissioner for Transport, Mr Robert Footman, also appealed to taxi drivers for their support for this programme and their participation as well.

Launching the internet version of the Programme today, Mr Footman said the Programme was tailor-made to suit taxi drivers' particular circumstances and operational needs, and they might flexibly adjust the pace of learning in accordance with their own schedules.

"The homepage for the Programme is very user-friendly and taxi drivers can practise a particular section many times on the same screen before proceeding to other sections," said Mr Footman.

In his letter to taxi drivers published through the Transport Department homepage at http://www.td.gov.hk/, he stressed the importance of the role taxis played in the public transport in Hong Kong and encouraged taxi drivers to provide high quality service through continuous self-improvement.

The internet version of the Programme is available at http://www.info.gov.hk/td/chi/transport/taxi/taxi.html for browsing while CDs and cassette tapes will be distributed free of charge to taxi drivers through registered taxi owners, taxi associations, four licensing offices of the Transport Department and sixteen post offices.

Taxi drivers wishing to collect the learning kits themselves may go to the licensing offices and post offices between November 18 and December 2. They will be required to present their taxi driving licences and taxi driver identity cards.

The English portion of the Programme is funded by the Workplace English Campaign Steering Committee.

To provide a comprehensive language training to taxi drivers and to attain cost effectiveness, the Transport Department has taken the opportunity to incorporate the workplace Putonghua portion into this self-learning Programme.

The QTSSC, organiser of the Programme, was formed in May 1999 to advise the Transport Department on the implementation of various projects to improve the taxi service quality. It comprises representatives from the taxi trade, Transport Bureau, Transport Department, District Councils, the Hong Kong Tourist Association and the Consumer Council.

Two Quality taxi driver awards, a taxi passenger opinion survey and a quarterly taxi newsletter are the schemes that have been introduced by the QTSSC.

Location of Distribution Centres:

Tansport Department Licensing Offices:

	Hong Kong Licensing Office - 3/F., United Centre, 95 Queensway, Hong Kong
	Kwun Tong Licensing Office - 5/F., Kwun Tong East Government Offices, 12 Lei Yue Mun Road, Kowloon
	Kowloon Licensing Office - 2/F., Cheung Sha Wan Government Offices, 303 Cheung Sha Wan Road, Kowloon
	Shatin Licensing Office - 5/F., Citylink Plaza, Shatin KCR Station, Shatin

Post Offices:

	General Post Office - 2, Connaught Place, Central, Hong Kong
	Harcourt Road Post Office - G10-G15, Hutchison House, 10 Harcourt Road, Central
	Morrison Hill Post Office - 28 Oi Kwan Road, Wan Chai, Hong Kong
	Aberdeen Post Office - G/F., Kam Fung Building, Aberdeen Main Road, Hong Kong
	Chai Wan Post Office - Administration Building, Yue Wan Esatate, Chai Wan
	Tsim Sha Tsui Post Office - 10 Middle Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon
	Kowloon City Post Office - G/F., 28 Lung Kong Road, Kowloon City
	Gillies Avenue Post Office - 140 Gillies Avenue, Kowloon
	Choi Hung Estate Post Office - G/F., Kam Wah House, Choi Hung Estate
	Po Lam Post Office - G/F., Restaurant Block, Po Lam Estate, Tseung Kwan O
	Texaco Road Post Office - Shop 25-30., G/F., Wealthy Garden, Texaco Road, Tsuen Wan
	Tai Po Post Office - G/F., Tai Po Government Offices Building, Tai Po
	Ma On Shan Post Office - Unit 2, G/F., Sunshine City Phase 4, Ma On Shan
	Fanling Post Office - G/F., Fanling Government Offices Building, 3 Pik Fung Road, Fanling
	Tuen Mun Central Post Office - Podium Level, Library and Post Office Building, 1 Tuen Hi Road, Tuen Mun
	Yuen Long Post Office - 51-53, Sau Fu Street, Yuen Long, N.T.

End/Friday, November 17, 2000