After a month of negotiations, the Taiwan Area National Freeway Bureau reached an agreement with the Far Eastern Electronic Toll Collection Co yesterday for the latter to continue to offer onboard units (OBU) for NT$680 until February next year.
Far Eastern had insisted that it could only offer OBUs at a low price for another three months before it started charging buyers the full price. The price of an OBU was originally set at NT$1,150, with buyers paying an additional NT$99 installation fee.
Bureau Division Chief Wu Mu-fu (
Wu said the deal expired in February this year. However, the company continued to offer OBUs at NT$680 each without charging motorists the full price. The negotiations helped to extend the special price deal for a full year, he said.
The company, on the other hand, has introduced another installment plan during the negotiations, where motorists can pay the full amount for an OBU in three installments. Motorists, however, are required to pay NT$428 each time and must pay with a credit card designated by Far Eastern.
Additionally, the bureau and the company have also agreed to offer OBUs through various rental plans. The company has also promised to try to form partnerships with auto shops and insurance firms, where free OBUs would be offered to motorists through the purchase of their services.
The Taipei Department of Health yesterday said it has launched a probe into a restaurant at Far Eastern Sogo Xinyi A13 Department Store after a customer died of suspected food poisoning. A preliminary investigation on Sunday found missing employee health status reports and unsanitary kitchen utensils at Polam Kopitiam (寶林茶室) in the department store’s basement food court, the department said. No direct relationship between the food poisoning death and the restaurant was established, as no food from the day of the incident was available for testing and no other customers had reported health complaints, it said, adding that the investigation is ongoing. Later
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