Legislators serving on the Transportation Committee yesterday failed to reach agreement on whether MRT passengers should be allowed to drink water while on trains.
Members of the committee instead decided to review the bill at a later date.
The committee was scheduled to review amendments to several articles of the Mass Rapid Transit Act (大眾捷運法) yesterday.
Among them, one amendment proposed by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators Nancy Chao (趙麗雲) and Chen Ru-fen (鄭汝芬) would allow MRT passengers to drink water on trains.
They said the regulations on food and beverage consumption stated in Article 1 of the Mass Rapid Transit Act are stricter than those set for ordinary trains and the high-speed rail system, adding that it also caused inconvenience for elderly passengers as well as those with special needs.
Vice Minister of Transportation and Communications (MOTC) Chang Chiu-chuen (張邱春) said although MRT passengers are banned from drinking on the train, no one has ever been punished for doing so.
“Compared with the TRA and the high-speed rail system, MRT routes are much shorter. Whether the same policy can be applied to the MRT needs further consideration,” Chang said.
Chang also noted that the MRT might experience problems implementing the proposed amendment because officials would first have to determine whether a drink was just water or a different beverage.
Some legislators also disagreed with the proposed amendments, saying it would increase maintenance costs.
Meanwhile, an MOTC proposal that individuals boarding trains without a valid ticket should be asked to pay 50 times the original ticket price was rejected by legislators, arguing that such a punishment would be disproportionate to the severity of the violation.
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