A woman’s efforts to avoid paying about NT$3,000 for two Taipei-to-Kaohsiung trips on the Taiwan High Speed Rail could end up costing her and her boyfriend NT$130,000.
The woman, surnamed Liu (劉), used to work for Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp (THSR, 台灣高鐵).
Liu and her boyfriend, surnamed Kuo (郭), were on Saturday fined NT$40,000 each in lieu of a 40-day jail term by the Ciaotou District Court in Kaohsiung.
They have already paid the company NT$25,000 each in settlement for their fare-dodging actions.
According to the court verdict, Liu bought an unreserved seat ticket from Taipei to Banciao by using a ticket vending machine on May 27 last year, which cost her NT$35.
However, she stayed on the train all the way to Kaohsiung.
While on the train, Liu called Kuo and asked him to go to the THSR Zuoying Station and buy a Zuoying-to-Tainan ticket.
Kuo bought a ticket and swiped it at one of the entrance turnstiles, but did not go through the turnstile.
After Liu arrived at the station, the couple rendezvoused in a secluded area and Kuo passed her the ticket that he had bought.
Liu then went to THSR staff and told them that something had come up and she could not make her planned trip to Tainan.
They let her out of the station’s departure-arrival enclosure and she turned in the Tainan ticket that Kuo had purchased and received a refund minus a processing fee of NT$20, which meant she paid just NT$55 for the trip from Taipei.
However, when the couple tried to repeat the trick on June 6, THSR staff did not fall for the ruse and called the police.
After considering that the couple had admitted to fare dodging and had already reached a settlement with THSRC, the district court sentenced them each to 40 days in jail for fraud or a NT$40,000 fine.
The verdict can be appealed.
A magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck off Yilan at 11:05pm yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The epicenter was located at sea, about 32.3km east of Yilan County Hall, at a depth of 72.8km, CWA data showed There were no immediate reports of damage. The intensity of the quake, which gauges the actual effect of a seismic event, measured 4 in Yilan County area on Taiwan’s seven-tier intensity scale, the data showed. It measured 4 in other parts of eastern, northern and central Taiwan as well as Tainan, and 3 in Kaohsiung and Pingtung County, and 2 in Lienchiang and Penghu counties and 1
FOREIGN INTERFERENCE: Beijing would likely intensify public opinion warfare in next year’s local elections to prevent Lai from getting re-elected, the ‘Yomiuri Shimbun’ said Internal documents from a Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) company indicated that China has been using the technology to intervene in foreign elections, including propaganda targeting Taiwan’s local elections next year and presidential elections in 2028, a Japanese newspaper reported yesterday. The Institute of National Security of Vanderbilt University obtained nearly 400 pages of documents from GoLaxy, a company with ties to the Chinese government, and found evidence that it had apparently deployed sophisticated, AI-driven propaganda campaigns in Hong Kong and Taiwan to shape public opinion, the Yomiuri Shimbun reported. GoLaxy provides insights, situation analysis and public opinion-shaping technology by conducting network surveillance
‘POLITICAL GAME’: DPP lawmakers said the motion would not meet the legislative threshold needed, and accused the KMT and the TPP of trivializing the Constitution The Legislative Yuan yesterday approved a motion to initiate impeachment proceedings against President William Lai (賴清德), saying he had undermined Taiwan’s constitutional order and democracy. The motion was approved 61-50 by lawmakers from the main opposition Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the smaller Taiwan People’s Party (TPP), who together hold a legislative majority. Under the motion, a roll call vote for impeachment would be held on May 19 next year, after various hearings are held and Lai is given the chance to defend himself. The move came after Lai on Monday last week did not promulgate an amendment passed by the legislature that
AFTERMATH: The Taipei City Government said it received 39 minor incident reports including gas leaks, water leaks and outages, and a damaged traffic signal A magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck off Taiwan’s northeastern coast late on Saturday, producing only two major aftershocks as of yesterday noon, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The limited aftershocks contrast with last year’s major earthquake in Hualien County, as Saturday’s earthquake occurred at a greater depth in a subduction zone. Saturday’s earthquake struck at 11:05pm, with its hypocenter about 32.3km east of Yilan County Hall, at a depth of 72.8km. Shaking was felt in 17 administrative regions north of Tainan and in eastern Taiwan, reaching intensity level 4 on Taiwan’s seven-tier seismic scale, the CWA said. In Hualien, the
RSS