Rail travelers look to buses as backup

The threat of industrial action by railway workers has dissuaded many people from taking a train home for the Mid-Autumn Festival today, while bus companies are doing a roaring trade.

"Bookings for train tickets [for today] have dropped by around 20 percent compared to the past," Lu Chieh-shen (鹿潔身), deputy director of Taiwan Railway Administration's (TRA) Transportation Department, said yesterday. "Passengers' confidence in us has obviously been shattered since news of the strike was released."

Seats trains from 7pm yesterday to 10am today were fully booked, while seats on other trains running today are still available, Lu said.

Lu he was not totally pessimistic about the situation, but some passengers didn't want to take any chances.

"I think it's better to take a highway bus than betting on trains that may not come, although I usually prefer to take the train," said Mark Hsu (許智超), a student at Tunghai University.

Kuo-kuang Motor Transport Co (國光客運) said it had rented an extra 400 buses for the holiday.

"We have had an extra 100 to 200 buses for the Mid-Autumn Festival in the past few years," said Feng Pao-lo (馮保羅), manager of Kuo-kuang Motor. "To transport the extra passengers this year because of the proposed union strike, we have planned to rent buses from other bus companies."

Kuo-kuang Motor has also contracted 80 buses to stand by at Taipei Main Station, Taoyuan station and Chungli station to pick up passengers in case trains are cancelled, Feng said.

Domestic however, were not enjoying a boom in business from wary train passengers.

"The rail strike has not driven more customers to us, as the bookings for flights in off-peak hours are 60 to 70 percent" of capacity, said Linda Hsiao (蕭曉玲), an executive at Mandarin Airlines (華信航空), one of the biggest domestic air carriers.

While travelers are avoiding trains, one customer who booked a ticket last Sunday remained hopeful he could get home.

"They'll make sure they compensate passengers if the trains are not running anyway," said Lee Kun-ying (李昆穎), a teacher from Taipei who was planning to travel to Pingtung.

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