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THSRC could face fine if ticket system does not improve

"They are professional businessmen, but their minds run slower than someone working for the government."

Pan Chia-hua, director general of the Bureau of High Speed Rail

The Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp may face a fine of up to NT$1 million (US$31,250) if the company fails to improve its system for selling tickets by tomorrow, Bureau of High Speed Rail Director General Pan Chia-hua (龐佳驊) said yesterday.

"The deadline was set by the company itself, but we have informed it that we will dispatch inspectors starting on Friday and Saturday to see if the situation has actually improved," Pan said.

"Whether the company will be penalized depends on the performance on these two days," Pan said.

Pan said the inspectors would check if the malfunction rate of ticket-checking at the gates is below 5 percent by tomorrow.

They will also check if overbooking continues to occur.

He emphasized, however, that the high speed rail company would not be asked to pay the fine immediately.

Instead, the firm will be asked to improve conditions within a week before the bureau considers imposing a penalty, he said.

Besides the deficiencies that have been repeatedly mentioned by the press, Pan observed the company now has one service person standing beside each automatic ticket machine to instruct passengers on how to enter their ticket requests, which he said was more like buying tickets from the clerks than from automatic ticket machines.

It takes the ticketing system at least 25 minutes to finish processing each transaction because the system must simultaneously handle the seat arrangements and confirm that the banks can successfully collect the money.

What upset Pan the most was the fact that many passengers come all the way from downtown to the high speed rails in the suburbs, only to be informed that the tickets have been sold out.

The company, he said, should learn to reserve additional seats in case of passenger overflow.

"They are professional businessmen," Pan said, "but their minds run slower than someone working for the government."

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