To train users like Lo Wan-fu (羅萬福), making comparisons between the Taiwan Railway Administration (TRA) and the Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp (THSRC) is all too easy.
Although unable to compete in terms of speed, the TRA possesses other pluses, which mean that for many it will remain the No. 1 for train travel.
Lo said the Taiwan Railway was good enough for him since he only has to travel from Taipei to Yinge (
Though Lo complained about annoying train delays, he said the relatively frequent trains -- a commuter train every eight to 15 minutes during rush hour at TRA -- compensated for this shortcoming.
While high speed rail passengers can only purchase advance tickets from automatic ticketing machines and ticketing personnel, TRA passengers are able to order tickets online, by telephone and in person.
Also, TRA advance tickets can be sold one to two weeks before the scheduled date of travel, whereas those for the high speed rail must be ordered four weeks ahead.
Moreover, TRA gives a 10 percent discount to roundtrip ticket buyers whose stations of departure and arrival are the same. No such privilege is enjoyed by high speed rail customers.
Meanwhile, for those who want to return their tickets, TRA charges them an NT$13 processing fee per ticket. The processing charge is NT$30 for high speed rail passengers.
Chaos, confusion, or perhaps nightmare seem to be appropriate terms characterizing the situation on Tuesday, when the THSRC began to sell advance tickets for its scheduled trial operations on Friday.
Computer glitches almost caused the entire ticketing system to meltdown. Angry customers shouted at THSRC staff because they were unable to complete transactions for any one of a number of reasons.
Cheng Ming-chang (
He added that the company would have to do a lot of work to regain customers' trust.
Specifically, he said the company must remove the setting in the ticketing system requires a PIN number for credit card purchases.
"The system's setting is way too strict," he said, "I suspect the person who designed the ticketing system has little experience of taking trains."
In Cheng's view, the flawed THSRC ticketing system was the main factor that slowed down the ticket-buying process last week. For example, instead of designing customized keyboards or a touch screen system that allows ticketing personnel to quickly access data, the company's clerks still have to use a mouse to click on customer options.
Another example Cheng mentioned was the design of ticket-checking gates. While TRA passengers can purchase tickets from automatic ticketing machines and pass through the gates without having to identify the arrow sign on the ticket first, THSRC passengers must check to see that the arrow sign is facing upwards before inserting the tickets into the slots.
Thus a ticket-checking process that only takes TRA passengers about a second to finish could take THSRC passengers five seconds to complete.
"Japan's Shinkansen system was able to facilitate the transportation of a huge number of railway users because of simple yet well-planned systems," he said.
The fact that a ticketing system could collapse because more than 7,000 users entered their ticket requests simultaneously is mind-boggling to some senior TRA officials.
The user interface developed by TRA was based on more than 20 years of railway operating experience, whereas the ticketing system for the high speed rail service was modeled on one used by airline companies.
Chang Rong-hua (
"Trains may be delayed, but we have never had to deal with a crashed computer system," Chang said, adding that the huge bandwidth provided by Chunghwa Telecom allows it to process data in an expedient fashion and through a stable network.
Sensing that the comparison might seem a bit self-serving, Chang attempted to defend the situation last week as a typical performance for a railway service starter.
"Perhaps the company [THSRC] was pre-occupied with scouting for hunks and babes and recruiting them as service personnel, rather than focusing on the real thing [quality service]." he said.
Taiwan is to receive the first batch of Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 jets from the US late this month, a defense official said yesterday, after a year-long delay due to a logjam in US arms deliveries. Completing the NT$247.2 billion (US$7.69 billion) arms deal for 66 jets would make Taiwan the third nation in the world to receive factory-fresh advanced fighter jets of the same make and model, following Bahrain and Slovakia, the official said on condition of anonymity. F-16 Block 70/72 are newly manufactured F-16 jets built by Lockheed Martin to the standards of the F-16V upgrade package. Republic of China
Taiwan-Japan Travel Passes are available for use on public transit networks in the two countries, Taoyuan Metro Corp said yesterday, adding that discounts of up to 7 percent are available. Taoyuan Metro, the Taipei MRT and Japan’s Keisei Electric Railway teamed up to develop the pass. Taoyuan Metro operates the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport MRT Line, while Keisei Electric Railway offers express services between Tokyo’s Narita Airport, and the Keisei Ueno and Nippori stations in the Japanese capital, as well as between Narita and Haneda airports. The basic package comprises one one-way ticket on the Taoyuan MRT Line and one Skyliner ticket on
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it