Taiwan Railway Corp’s (TRC) board yesterday rejected a company proposal to raise ticket prices, saying that management failed to provide crucial information to support a fare adjustment.
“The company’s presentation did not include an assessment that it should have conducted before proposing to adjust ticket prices of some railway services. Neither did it show how the company fares in this regard compared with other public transport systems and how railway passengers would react if fares were adjusted,” the company said. “Following a thorough discussion, the board decided to return the proposal to the company’s management for revision. The revised proposal would be discussed at the next board meeting.”
The board also ruled that its deliberation of the proposal would not be disclosed to the public.
Photo: Taipei Times
The nation’s largest and oldest railway company has proposed raising ticket prices, which have remained unchanged for 29 years.
Before the board convened for the meeting yesterday afternoon, Minister of Transportation and Communications Chen Shih-kai (陳世凱) said on the sidelines of a news conference in Taipei that the ministry hoped the public would accept the proposed fare adjustment.
“We will respect the board’s decision, but we hope that it would take into account whether the public would find the fare adjustment acceptable and encourage people to take public transportation more frequently to help the nation reach its goal of reducing carbon emissions,” Chen said, adding that further negotiations would be needed as to when the new ticketing schemes would take effect.
The company’s management proposed calculating ticket price adjustments by setting a return on investment of 3 percent.
It would also apply the tapering rate principle, in which transportation costs decrease as the distance increases. The measure would ensure that the price hikes, which could be implemented next year, would have a minimal effect on the public, it said.
Based on the company’s calculations, the basic rate for commuter train services would rise 35.6 percent to NT$1.98 per person-kilometer, up from NT$1.46 per person-kilometer.
The increase in the basic rate would not affect a majority of short-distance commuters, most of whom have been using TPass since it was launched.
TPass allows commuters to have unlimited access to designated public transportation systems at fixed prices within 30 days.
Although the basic rate increase for long-distance train services would be smaller than that for short-distance services, long-distance train services must remain competitive, and any fare adjustment should have a minimal effect on passengers, the company said.
Any proposal to increase fares has to be approved by the company’s board before it is forwarded to the Ministry of Transportation and Communications for additional review. The proposal could still be revised at the ministry’s Rate Review Committee.
The Executive Yuan would have to give the final approval to the proposal.
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