The Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MOTC) plans to raise the minimum liability insurance payment to passengers who are injured or killed on the nation's MRT networks from NT$1.4 million (US$43,500) to NT$1.5 million per person.
Hsu Chun-yi (
The ministry aims for the new policy to take effect next month.
He said the ministry had reviewed the current compensation standards for claims stemming from injuries or passenger deaths, and found the amount to be insufficient.
After examining the liability insurance payment levels for railways and motor vehicles, MOTC specialists suggested increasing the payment to NT$1.5 million per passenger, he said.
Until the change takes effect, the standard will be determined based on the MRT Law (大眾捷運法), which currently only applies to the Taipei MRT System.
Hsu said that the amendment would also allow the standard to be applied to other MRT systems, including the Kaohsiung MRT system, the Airport Rail and the Taichung MRT system.
The Kaohsiung MRT system is set to go into operation soon, with the ministry expected to complete inspections of the system this year.
The Airport Rail is under construction and the Taichung system has yet to be built.
Hsu said that the figure of NT$1.5 million was merely a minimum requirement.
Each system could increase individual payments depending on circumstances, he said.
The ministry also plans to streamline procedures for disabled passengers when purchasing discounted tickets for public transportation systems.
Currently, disabled passengers are required to fill in an application form before they can purchase tickets at reduced rates.
Hsu said the procedure was time-consuming and caused inconvenience to people with poor vision.
According to the ministry's plan, disabled passengers would only need to present their disability certificates. Operators of public transportation systems would be obligated to fill in the applications on behalf of the disabled passengers.
The regulation is expected to be promulgated on Monday and is scheduled to be implemented on Wednesday, Lunar New Year's Eve.
In related news, the Taiwan Area National Freeway Bureau said yesterday that the price of the on-board unit (OBU) used by the freeway electronic toll collection system would be set at NT$1,199.
The Far Eastern Electronic Toll Collection Co (FETC), the contractor operating the electronic toll collection system, had proposed a sale price of NT$1,249.
Wu Mu-fu (
While the consulting firm found that the price was "fairly reasonable," it suggested that the FETC negotiate with its supplier about the price of some key OBU components, Wu said.
"It's their responsibility to work things out with their supplier," he said.
Motorists can still purchase OBUs at a reduced price of NT$680 until the end of this month.
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
Taiwan's Gold Apollo Co (金阿波羅通信) said today that the pagers used in detonations in Lebanon the day before were not made by it, but by a company called BAC which has a license to use its brand. At least nine people were killed and nearly 3,000 wounded when pagers used by Hezbollah members detonated simultaneously across Lebanon yesterday. Images of destroyed pagers analyzed by Reuters showed a format and stickers on the back that were consistent with pagers made by Gold Apollo. A senior Lebanese security source told Reuters that Hezbollah had ordered 5,000 pagers from Taiwan-based Gold Apollo. "The product was not
COLD FACTS: ‘Snow skin’ mooncakes, made with a glutinous rice skin and kept at a low temperature, have relatively few calories compared with other mooncakes Traditional mooncakes are a typical treat for many Taiwanese in the lead-up to the Mid-Autumn Festival, but a Taipei-based dietitian has urged people not to eat more than one per day and not to have them every day due to their high fat and calorie content. As mooncakes contain a lot of oil and sugar, they can have negative health effects on older people and those with diabetes, said Lai Yu-han (賴俞含), a dietitian at Taipei Hospital of the Ministry of Health and Welfare. “The maximum you can have is one mooncake a day, and do not eat them every day,” Lai