Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp's (THSRC, 高鐵) shuttle transist system and reimbursement mechanism for delays were the top concerns in a Consumers' Foundation (消基會) survey published yesterday.
Almost a year after its launch on Jan. 5 last year, the poll found that 62 percent of 2,660 respondents said it was unreasonable for THSRC only to reimburse the full fare when delays were for more than an hour, or to only refund half the fare for delays between 30 minutes and an hour.
An official at THSRC disagreed.
"The railway's reimbursement system for delays is quite reasonable compared to that of overseas railway service providers. Japan, for example, only reimburses train delays of more than two hours. In France, passengers are only reimbursed half the fare for delays of more than an hour," vice president of THSRC's public affairs division Ted Chia (賈先德) said. "Nonetheless, THSRC will still take the foundation's suggestions into consideration."
Despite those complaints, a majority expressed satisfaction with the company's overall service.
The second biggest issue that THSRC needs to resolve, 55 percent of the respondents said, was its transfer services.
Chia said that local bus services do not fall under the company's jurisdiction.
"THSRC's main challenge is that the company does not have the right to operate local bus services. THSRC is currently, at its own cost, providing free shuttle buses at Taichung (
Chia urged the government to allow private companies to operate transportation services, such as nine-seater buses, between the railway stations and the city center.
Another 45 percent found it unreasonable that passengers were required to cancel their tickets at least half-an-hour before the scheduled departure time.
Chia said the rule aimed to protect other passengers' rights to secure tickets and seats. However, he said the company would take all its customers concerns into consideration.
THSRC operated a total of 24,400 trains last year, carrying approximately 15.55 million passengers. Its revenue, as of last November, had reached NT$12 billion (US$370 million) and the firm was expecting to break even this year, Chia said.
"In December, THSRC's total number of passengers exceeded 2 million, up 20.48 percent when compared with November's 1.66 million, and the firm expects to see a higher growth rate in the next two months as a result of the Lunar New Year holiday," Chia said.
For the Lunar New Year holiday, Chia said THSRC would start selling tickets online from midnight last night and was planning to operate 1,500 trains with nearly 1.48 million seats available between Feb. 1 and Feb. 12.
THSRC's other plans for this year include the launch of a telephone voicemail system during the first half to enhance the speed of its service. The company is also in talks with President Chain Store Corp (
‘SWASTICAR’: Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s close association with Donald Trump has prompted opponents to brand him a ‘Nazi’ and resulted in a dramatic drop in sales Demonstrators descended on Tesla Inc dealerships across the US, and in Europe and Canada on Saturday to protest company chief Elon Musk, who has amassed extraordinary power as a top adviser to US President Donald Trump. Waving signs with messages such as “Musk is stealing our money” and “Reclaim our country,” the protests largely took place peacefully following fiery episodes of vandalism on Tesla vehicles, dealerships and other facilities in recent weeks that US officials have denounced as terrorism. Hundreds rallied on Saturday outside the Tesla dealership in Manhattan. Some blasted Musk, the world’s richest man, while others demanded the shuttering of his
ADVERSARIES: The new list includes 11 entities in China and one in Taiwan, which is a local branch of Chinese cloud computing firm Inspur Group The US added dozens of entities to a trade blacklist on Tuesday, the US Department of Commerce said, in part to disrupt Beijing’s artificial intelligence (AI) and advanced computing capabilities. The action affects 80 entities from countries including China, the United Arab Emirates and Iran, with the commerce department citing their “activities contrary to US national security and foreign policy.” Those added to the “entity list” are restricted from obtaining US items and technologies without government authorization. “We will not allow adversaries to exploit American technology to bolster their own militaries and threaten American lives,” US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick said. The entities
Minister of Finance Chuang Tsui-yun (莊翠雲) yesterday told lawmakers that she “would not speculate,” but a “response plan” has been prepared in case Taiwan is targeted by US President Donald Trump’s reciprocal tariffs, which are to be announced on Wednesday next week. The Trump administration, including US Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent, has said that much of the proposed reciprocal tariffs would focus on the 15 countries that have the highest trade surpluses with the US. Bessent has referred to those countries as the “dirty 15,” but has not named them. Last year, Taiwan’s US$73.9 billion trade surplus with the US
Prices of gasoline and diesel products at domestic gas stations are to fall NT$0.2 and NT$0.1 per liter respectively this week, even though international crude oil prices rose last week, CPC Corp, Taiwan (台灣中油) and Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) said yesterday. International crude oil prices continued rising last week, as the US Energy Information Administration reported a larger-than-expected drop in US commercial crude oil inventories, CPC said in a statement. Based on the company’s floating oil price formula, the cost of crude oil rose 2.38 percent last week from a week earlier, it said. News that US President Donald Trump plans a “secondary