Starting today, passengers on the high-speed rail can purchase tickets at OK Mart convenience stores, Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp (THSRC) announced yesterday.
The same service is already being offered at FamilyMart, 7-Eleven and Hi-life. With the fourth convenience store chain coming on board, the high-speed rail will expand its number of access points for ticket sales from 8,500 to 9,300 venues nationwide.
THSRC said passengers could book their tickets through the “OK Go” Multimedia Kiosk at OK Mart stores, pay for them at the counter and receive the tickets on the same day. The service is available 24 hours.
Unlike competitors that charge a service fee of NT$10 per ticket, OK Mart will charge NT$8. From today until Dec. 12, customers will pay no transaction fee. Meanwhile, passengers can receive one free bottle of tea for each transaction from today until Dec. 26.
THSRC statistics show that about 8.46 million tickets have been sold through convenience stores since the service started 18 months ago, with an average of 13,000 tickets sold per day.
Meanwhile, the Taiwan Railway Administration said that passengers would be able to pick up tickets at convenience stores after booking them online by the end of this year.
The nation’s largest railway system has been planning to offer the service for more than three years, but problems related to service charges kept it from finalizing the deal with the stores.
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