The Kaohsiung City Government yesterday agreed to consider whether people who have taken Love River boat tour recently are eligible for a refund because the boat service more than doubled ticket prices almost two weeks before it received permission to do so.
Bus and Steamship Administration Director Tseng An-li (曾安麗) admitted that her agency failed to get approval from the Kaohsiung Harbor Bureau before it raised its ticket prices by 60 percent on July 19.
But she said the city government had communicated with the bureau, which told the city that city officials had the authority to decide on the price increase.
Tseng’s remarks came after Kaohsiung City Councilor Wang Ling-chiao (王齡嬌) criticized the city government for raising the one-way boat fare by NT$30 almost two weeks before the company received official approval from the harbor bureau on Friday.
The one-way fare on the cruise service, which runs boats every 15 minutes between 4pm and 11pm daily, is now NT$80.
“The city government violated the law and sacrificed people’s rights,” Wang said.
In related news, the Love River was voted the favorite dating spot for lovers in an online poll held by the city’s Department of Health between July 10 and Thursday.
Results posted on the poll Web site shows the river won 20,632 votes, followed by Shiziwan (西子灣) with 15,017 votes.
The City Light Corridor (城市光廊) came in third with 6,109 votes while the Heart of Love River — the area around the Bo-ai Bridge, which is surrounded by two lakes in a heart shape — garnered 5,938 votes.
Other spots on the list include the Kaohsiung Music Center, the British Consulate overlooking the Shiziwan, the Fisherman’s Wharf and the Honorary Pier.
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