The Taiwan Railways Administration yesterday said it would start trial runs next week of a “real-name” ticketing system for residents of Hualien and Taitung counties purchasing round-trip tickets to the east coast during the Dragon Boat Festival.
The system, which is to begin its trial run on Wednesday next week, has been proposed as a way to ensure that those born in Hualien and Taitung counties can purchase tickets to go home during the big three national holidays — the Lunar New Year, the Dragon Boat Festival and the Mid-Autumn Festival — when tickets are in high demand.
The real-name system is to apply to passengers on the eastbound Puyuma Express to Taitung, departing Shulin Station at 7:43am on June 9, and to passengers on the westbound Puyuma Express train to Shulin, departing Taitung at 2:45pm on June 12.
Those who want to purchase tickets for those two trains can start booking tickets at 6am on Wednesday next week, the TRA said.
Only passengers whose personal identification card numbers begin with the letters U or V — which are assigned to people born in Hualien and Taitung — will be able to buy tickets under the real-name system.
Each person can purchase no more than three roundtrip tickets using three qualified ID cards, it said.
The last three digits of the ID cards will appear on the tickets for onboard inspection, it said.
TRA transportation department section chief Chen Yu-mou (陳裕謀) said the system does not apply to those who were not born in Hualien or Taitung, but live there because of work, school or other reasons.
The TRA said the results of the trial run would be included in a comprehensive report to be submitted to the legislature’s Transportation Committee, which had asked the agency to test the system for six months.
In related news, Minister of Transportation and Communications Hochen Tan (賀陳旦) faced questions over his decision not to cancel highways tolls between 11pm and 6am during the four-day Dragon Boat Festival holiday, with several lawmakers saying the ministry should persuade long-distance bus operators to offer larger discounts to travelers during those hours.
Hochen said the ministry made the decision because driving at night increases the risks of traffic accidents, adding that drivers are more likely to speed if the toll is waived.
The ministry should work with law enforcement officers to crack down on speeding, rather than canceling toll-free hours, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Chen Hsuen-sheng (陳雪生) and Independent Legislator Chao Cheng-yu (趙正宇) said.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is maintaining close ties with Beijing, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday, hours after a new round of Chinese military drills in the Taiwan Strait began. Political parties in a democracy have a responsibility to be loyal to the nation and defend its sovereignty, DPP spokesman Justin Wu (吳崢) told a news conference in Taipei. His comments came hours after Beijing announced via Chinese state media that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command was holding large-scale drills simulating a multi-pronged attack on Taiwan. Contrary to the KMT’s claims that it is staunchly anti-communist, KMT Deputy
RESPONSE: The government would investigate incidents of Taiwanese entertainers in China promoting CCP propaganda online in contravention of the law, the source said Taiwanese entertainers living in China who are found to have contravened cross-strait regulations or collaborated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) could be subject to fines, a source said on Sunday. Several Taiwanese entertainers have posted on the social media platform Sina Weibo saying that Taiwan “must be returned” to China, and sharing news articles from Chinese state media. In response, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has asked the Ministry of Culture to investigate whether the entertainers had contravened any laws, and asked for them to be questioned upon their return to Taiwan, an official familiar with the matter said. To curb repeated
Myanmar has turned down an offer of assistance from Taiwanese search-and-rescue teams after a magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck the nation on Friday last week, saying other international aid is sufficient, the National Fire Agency said yesterday. More than 1,700 have been killed and 3,400 injured in the quake that struck near the central Myanmar city of Mandalay early on Friday afternoon, followed minutes later by a magnitude 6.7 aftershock. Worldwide, 13 international search-and-rescue teams have been deployed, with another 13 teams mobilizing, the agency said. Taiwan’s search-and-rescue teams were on standby, but have since been told to stand down, as
RSS