Minister of Transportation and Communications Mao Chi-kuo (毛治國) yesterday reiterated the ministry’s plan to eimplement a per kilometer traveled charge for freeway motorists in 2013.
Tseng Dar-jen (曾大仁), director-general of the National Freeway Bureau, said motorists who have not installed on-board units (OBU) — a device needed to access the freeway electronic toll collection (ETC) system — or those who have not set up a prepaid account will be recorded using imaging technology.
He said the bureau would send these motorists a notice asking them to make payment within 14 to 20 days, adding that they would also be charged a transaction fee.
“If they fail to pay the tolls before the expiration date, they will be fined NT$3,000,” he said.
On whether the bureau would make installing OBUs or setting up prepaid accounts mandatory, Tseng said it would require public consensus and support from lawmakers on amendments to regulations.
The problems surrounding the ETC system resurfaced when the bureau said it would give a 10 percent discount on tolls to motorists who have OBUs or have set up prepaid accounts when they pass through the Taishan Toll Station on the Sun Yat-sen Freeway (National Freeway No. 1) during peak hours, because construction work on the freeway could slow down the traffic.
While the bureau said the measure was meant to speed up traffic flow, some have criticized it as a means to benefit ETC system users and the Far Eastern Electronic Toll Collection Co (FETC), the contractor that operates the ETC system.
About 1.1 million motorists own OBUs, accounting for approximately one-sixth of registered vehicle users. The average usage rate of OBUs is about 40 percent.
An OBU cost NT$1,199. To boost the number of ETC users, FETC has introduced “eTags,” which will be available to all motorists free of charge in February next year.
According to Mao, there are two conditions in the government’s build-operate-transfer contract with FETC that have likely hindered growth in the number of ETC users.
First is that motorists must pay out of their own pockets for the OBU, he said.
“The second condition is that the contract says the government will start charging freeway motorists by kilometer if the OBU usage rate reaches 65 percent, which means there will still be 35 percent of motorists who do not use the ETC system. We had estimated the situation would lead to a tremendous increase in operational costs,” Mao said.
“The conundrum facing the ETC system will never be solved unless we make OBUs free of charge. In addition, we should strive to raise the OBU usage rate to 90 percent to save on operational costs. To that end, at least half of 6 million registered vehicle owners should access the ETC system,” he added.
Taiwanese can file complaints with the Tourism Administration to report travel agencies if their activities caused termination of a person’s citizenship, Mainland Affairs Council Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday, after a podcaster highlighted a case in which a person’s citizenship was canceled for receiving a single-use Chinese passport to enter Russia. The council is aware of incidents in which people who signed up through Chinese travel agencies for tours of Russia were told they could obtain Russian visas and fast-track border clearance, Chiu told reporters on the sidelines of an event in Taipei. However, the travel agencies actually applied
New measures aimed at making Taiwan more attractive to foreign professionals came into effect this month, the National Development Council said yesterday. Among the changes, international students at Taiwanese universities would be able to work in Taiwan without a work permit in the two years after they graduate, explainer materials provided by the council said. In addition, foreign nationals who graduated from one of the world’s top 200 universities within the past five years can also apply for a two-year open work permit. Previously, those graduates would have needed to apply for a work permit using point-based criteria or have a Taiwanese company
The Shilin District Prosecutors’ Office yesterday indicted two Taiwanese and issued a wanted notice for Pete Liu (劉作虎), founder of Shenzhen-based smartphone manufacturer OnePlus Technology Co (萬普拉斯科技), for allegedly contravening the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例) by poaching 70 engineers in Taiwan. Liu allegedly traveled to Taiwan at the end of 2014 and met with a Taiwanese man surnamed Lin (林) to discuss establishing a mobile software research and development (R&D) team in Taiwan, prosecutors said. Without approval from the government, Lin, following Liu’s instructions, recruited more than 70 software
Taiwanese singer Jay Chou (周杰倫) plans to take to the courts of the Australian Open for the first time as a competitor in the high-stakes 1 Point Slam. The Australian Open yesterday afternoon announced the news on its official Instagram account, welcoming Chou — who celebrates his 47th birthday on Sunday — to the star-studded lineup of the tournament’s signature warm-up event. “From being the King of Mandarin Pop filling stadiums with his music to being Kato from The Green Hornet and now shifting focus to being a dedicated tennis player — welcome @jaychou to the 1 Point Slam and #AusOpen,” the
RSS