Frequent travelers on the high speed rail system will be eligible for discounts of up to 52 percent on their tickets, starting next month.
The Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp (THSRC) said yesterday the new ticketing scheme replaces the blue and orange special offer fares. Frequent travelers will be able to choose between a prepaid ticket card and a periodic ticket card.
Passengers holding a prepaid card can travel eight times in any designated section, with a 15 percent discount on tickets. They can board any train within 30 days of starting to using the tickets and sit in any available non-reserved seat.
A one-way ticket for a standard cabin seat between Taipei and Taichung costs NT$700. Eight trips would cost NT$5,600, but a prepaid card would cut the cost to NT$4,695. Passengers who buy a periodic ticket card will have unlimited access to any train for 30 days along any designated section, with a 52 percent discount on tickets. They can only sit in non-reserved seats.
Passengers making a daily roundtrip between Taipei and Hsinchu, for example, would pay NT$17,400 over a 30-day period. Having a period ticket card would cut the cost to NT$8,230.
Periodic tickets will only available for passengers traveling between Taipei and Taoyuan, Taipei and Hsinchu, Banciao and Taoyuan, Banciao and Hsinchu, Taoyuan and Hsinchu, Chiayi and Tainan and Tainan and Tsoying.
The option is not available for travel between Taipei and Banciao (板橋) or between Taipei and Tsoying (左營).
Providing a periodic ticket for the latter trip is problematic because the law caps the amount of money that can be stored on an electronic ticket card at NT$10,000.
THSRC said that it would announce the cost of a prepaid ticket card for travel between Taipei and Tsoying at a later date, along with the charges for other sections.
Passengers can choose whether to have their names and photos printed on the prepaid cards. The cards can be shared with other people if they do not carry a name or photo; however, the prepaid cards without a name or photo cannot be suspended if they are lost.
A photo and name will be mandatory for periodic ticket cards and the cards are subject to confiscation if used by anyone but their owner.
Along with the new ticketing scheme, the company will increase the number of train cabins for non-reserved seats from two to three, and extend non-reserved seat service from five days to seven days a week.
The orange-and-blue color special fares will be discontinued starting next month. Currently, passengers boarding the trains marked orange on the train schedule receive a 35 percent discount, while those boarding the “blue” trains receive a 15 percent discount.
Under the new scheme, passengers buying non-reserved seats will simply receive a 3 percent discount.
The THSRC also introduced its summer ticket fare scheme yesterday. From July 1 to Sept.30, those purchasing group tickets will receive a 10 percent discount.
Individual travelers will receive a 10 percent discount if they board the trains departing after 9pm Monday through Thursday and on Saturday, as well as those leaving before 9am on Sundays.
Taiwan would benefit from more integrated military strategies and deployments if the US and its allies treat the East China Sea, the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea as a “single theater of operations,” a Taiwanese military expert said yesterday. Shen Ming-shih (沈明室), a researcher at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said he made the assessment after two Japanese military experts warned of emerging threats from China based on a drill conducted this month by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) Eastern Theater Command. Japan Institute for National Fundamentals researcher Maki Nakagawa said the drill differed from the
‘WORSE THAN COMMUNISTS’: President William Lai has cracked down on his political enemies and has attempted to exterminate all opposition forces, the chairman said The legislature would motion for a presidential recall after May 20, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday at a protest themed “against green communists and dictatorship” in Taipei. Taiwan is supposed to be a peaceful homeland where people are united, but President William Lai (賴清德) has been polarizing and tearing apart society since his inauguration, Chu said. Lai must show his commitment to his job, otherwise a referendum could be initiated to recall him, he said. Democracy means the rule of the people, not the rule of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), but Lai has failed to fulfill his
A rally held by opposition parties yesterday demonstrates that Taiwan is a democratic country, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday, adding that if opposition parties really want to fight dictatorship, they should fight it on Tiananmen Square in Beijing. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) held a protest with the theme “against green communists and dictatorship,” and was joined by the Taiwan People’s Party. Lai said the opposition parties are against what they called the “green communists,” but do not fight against the “Chinese communists,” adding that if they really want to fight dictatorship, they should go to the right place and face
A 79-year-old woman died today after being struck by a train at a level crossing in Taoyuan, police said. The woman, identified by her surname Wang (王), crossed the tracks even though the barriers were down in Jhongli District’s (中壢) Neili (內壢) area, the Taoyuan Branch of the Railway Police Bureau said. Surveillance footage showed that the railway barriers were lowered when Wang entered the crossing, but why she ventured onto the track remains under investigation, the police said. Police said they received a report of an incident at 6:41am involving local train No. 2133 that was heading from Keelung to Chiayi City. Investigators
RSS