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.
Thirty-five earthquakes have exceeded 5.5 on the Richter scale so far this year, the most in 14 years, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said on Facebook on Thursday. A large earthquake in Hualien County on April 3 released five times as much the energy as the 921 Earthquake on Sept. 21, 1999, the agency said in its latest earthquake report for this year. Hualien County has had the most national earthquake alerts so far this year at 64, with Yilan County second with 23 and Changhua County third with nine, the agency said. The April 3 earthquake was what caused the increase in
INTIMIDATION: In addition to the likely military drills near Taiwan, China has also been waging a disinformation campaign to sow division between Taiwan and the US Beijing is poised to encircle Taiwan proper in military exercise “Joint Sword-2024C,” starting today or tomorrow, as President William Lai (賴清德) returns from his visit to diplomatic allies in the Pacific, a national security official said yesterday. Commenting on condition of anonymity, the official said that multiple intelligence sources showed that China is “highly likely” to launch new drills around Taiwan. Although the drills’ scale is unknown, there is little doubt that they are part of the military activities China initiated before Lai’s departure, they said. Beijing at the same time is conducting information warfare by fanning skepticism of the US and
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is unlikely to attempt an invasion of Taiwan during US president-elect Donald Trump’s time in office, Taiwanese and foreign academics said on Friday. Trump is set to begin his second term early next year. Xi’s ambition to establish China as a “true world power” has intensified over the years, but he would not initiate an invasion of Taiwan “in the near future,” as his top priority is to maintain the regime and his power, not unification, Tokyo Woman’s Christian University distinguished visiting professor and contemporary Chinese politics expert Akio Takahara said. Takahara made the comment at a
DEFENSE: This month’s shipment of 38 modern M1A2T tanks would begin to replace the US-made M60A3 and indigenous CM11 tanks, whose designs date to the 1980s The M1A2T tanks that Taiwan expects to take delivery of later this month are to spark a “qualitative leap” in the operational capabilities of the nation’s armored forces, a retired general told the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times) in an interview published yesterday. On Tuesday, the army in a statement said it anticipates receiving the first batch of 38 M1A2T Abrams main battle tanks from the US, out of 108 tanks ordered, in the coming weeks. The M1 Abrams main battle tank is a generation ahead of the Taiwanese army’s US-made M60A3 and indigenously developed CM11 tanks, which have
RSS