The Legislature’s Transportation Committee passed a resolution yesterday asking the Ministry of Transportation and Communications to hold two to three hearings within a month on whether highway bus operators should be allowed to run connecting bus services.
Highway bus operators must have applications approved by the ministry before they are able to provide services on certain routes and they cannot unilaterally extend services without securing approval from the ministry beforehand.
The bill was proposed by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Hsu Yao-chang (徐耀昌) and 45 other KMT and DPP lawmakers. The launch of the high speed rail service had eaten away the profits of companies providing highway bus services, the lawmakers said.
CONNECTING SERVICES
The proposed bill proposes that Article 79 of the Highway Act (公路法) be amended to allow highway bus operators to provide connecting bus services. If a certain bus operator offers the service between point A and B, for example, he can also be qualified to offer a service from point B to point C. Instead of customers being charged for passing from A to B and then B to C, operators would be able to offer tickets from A to C at potentially lower rates.
The legislators proposing the bill said the measure would help highway bus operators gain more business and customers would also benefit because they would have more travel options available to them.
OPPOSED
The ministry, however, had indicated it opposed the amendment because it would affect long-distance highway bus service providers, which may in turn disrupt the market.
Directorate General of Highways Deputy Director-General Chao Hsin-hua (趙興華) said that once the government opens up connecting bus services, customers may benefit in the short run, but in the long run the measure was likely to lead to a price war. Operators would cut down on personnel and expenditure on maintenance in order to reduce operational costs, Chao said.
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