Chen, who is also a former chief of the Taipei City Government's transportation department, suggested that discounts for the stored-value cards be provided as an incentive, as was the case when the city government pushed the use of EasyCards for the mass rapid transit system.
While some argued that Far Eastern should allow users to rent OBUs, the non-profit Consumers' Foundation (
This suggestion, albeit satisfactory to the public, is impractical, and Far Eastern could instead consider giving frequent users discounts, suggested Wang Jin-yuan (
For instance, Far Eastern could rebate OBU fees to consumers who have passed toll stations a certain number of times, he said. It should also absorb the handling fees consumers are charged by banks when they add value to the ETC cards via automated teller machines, he said.
"Since the ETC system could usher in massive benefits in the long run, Far Eastern should not be greedy at this point and risk tarnishing its image," Wang said, adding that "arrogant" would be the most appropriate word to describe the company, which has shown little sincerity to serve the interests of the public.
Observers estimate that Far Eastern could rake in revenues of nearly NT$1 billion per annum if half of the annual 560 million toll collection transactions (according to the government's figures for last year) were conducted via OBUs.
Bearing in mind the system's extensive potential, the contractor should be willing to absorb short-term losses to raise the penetration rate, and do everything it can to increase efficiency, said Chen Dun-ji (
He said with the ETC system in place, Taiwan can gradually introduce the distance-based toll collection scheme to further reduce congestion and fully reflect the "users pay" concept.
Moreover, this is a good opportunity for the government to foster the ETC-related sector, rather than just benefiting the single contractor, and make Taiwan known for exports of OBUs and ETC technology, he said.
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