Legislative committee asks ministry to consider reducing certain freeway tolls

The legislature's Transportation Committee yesterday asked the Ministry of Transportation and Communications to evaluate the possibility of reducing freeway tolls from NT$40 to NT$30 in parts of central and southern Taiwan.

The committee also passed a resolution that the results of the evaluation should be delivered within a month.

The discount toll fees would apply to National Freeway No. 1 (Sun Yat-sen Freeway), south of the Yuanlin (員林) toll station in Changhua County as well as National Freeway No. 3 (Chiang Wei-shui Freeway), south of the Minchien (民間) toll station in Nantou County.

"On both freeways, the distance between two toll stations in the south is on average 10km shorter than in the north. This means that motorists in the south are being unfairly charged," Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Yeh Yi-ching (葉宜津) said.

From Yuanlin to Gangshan (岡山) in Kaohsiung County, the average distance between toll stations on Sun Yat-sen Freeway is 30.9km, Yeh said. From Yuanlin to Sihjih (汐止) in Taipei County, the average distance is 41.8km.

On Chiang Wei-shui Freeway, the average distance between toll stations is 35.3km from Minchien to Tianliao (田寮) in Kaohsiung County, while it is 46km from Minchien to Cidu (七堵) in Taipei County, Yeh said.

Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Huang Chao-shun (黃昭順) concurred. Huang said the tolls had already brought in revenues equivalent to the sum spent on constructing the freeways and questioned why motorists were still being charged toll fees.

In response, Taiwan Area National Freeway Bureau Director-General Lee Tai-ming (李泰明) said the average distance between toll booths may have varied because they were measured from different starting points.

Minister of Transportation and Communications Tsai Duei (蔡堆) said the distance between toll stations in the north was further because some sections of the freeways also function as local expressways.