Statistics released by the Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MOTC) last week showed that the Taiwan Railway Administration (TRA) has lost many of its long-distance travelers to the high-speed rail and freeway buses.
The average travel distance by passenger fell from 55.3km in 2006 to 47.8km between January and August, the report said.
For the same period, passengers boarding commuter trains accounted for about 75 percent of all passengers, up 6.1 percent over last year.
About 16 percent of passengers took Tzuchiang-class express trains — the TRA’s highest train class — down 7.9 percent from last year.
Between January and August, 76.3 percent of TRA passengers traveled less than 50km, up 0.8 percent from last year. Those traveling between 50km and 200km as well as those traveling 200km or above accounted for 20.4 percent and 3.3 percent, down 0.9 and 0.5 percent respectively.
One-third of short-distance travelers only traveled between 10km and 20km. Despite the increase in commuters or short-distance travelers, the income generated by such passengers only accounted for one-third of the TRA’s total revenue. Passengers boarding the Tzuchiang class, on the other hand, contributed to 51 percent of revenue.
The nation’s largest railway service told the Legislature’s Transportation committee on Wednesday that its accumulated operational loss was likely to top NT$80 billion (US$2.5 billion) in the next fiscal year.
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