Taipei’s Maokong Gondola has accumulated losses of about NT$230 million (US$7.6 million) due to poorly designed cabins and a lack of promotion since 2010, becoming the biggest money-losing transportation form in the capital, according to figures released by the Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC).
The gondola system, which began operation on July 2007, recorded a NT$98 million annual loss in 2010 and a NT$83 million loss last year, following the system’s reopening in 2010 after having been suspended for 18 months due to safety concerns.
In the first half of this year, the system accumulated a NT$50 million deficit, partly due to major maintenance work that shut it down for a month. The system’s loss for this year is expected to be as high as NT$100 million.
In light of the mounting losses, the National Audit Office demanded that the Taipei City Government address the matter during an annual report on government spending last year.
The city decided to include the gondola’s losses in its Property Development Fund and then use profits made by the Taipei Arena, which, like the gondola, is run by the TRTC, to offset the accumulated deficits.
The Taipei Arena generated NT$130 million in revenue last year, more than enough to balance out the gondola system’s losses while still bringing in a NT$60 million surplus to the fund.
“It’s [so far] feasible to cover losses with the combined profits gained by the company’s two businesses,” TRTC general manager Tan Gwa-guang (譚國光) said.
President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) saw the gondola, which was built during his term as Taipei mayor and cost the city NT$1.3 billion, as his greatest mayoral achievement.
“Some said I have achieved nothing during my eight-year tenure as Taipei mayor and only knew how to jog and swim. Now it proves that I also know how to construct a cable car system,” Ma said at the gondola’s opening ceremony.
The system did enjoy a period of initial success, when all the stations were inundated by scores of people lining up for up to two hours to take a ride on the weekend.
It also recorded a single-day record of 23,000 passengers.
However, the popularity was short-lived, as the system was shut down for 18 months starting in 2008 because of safety concerns after the foundation of a support pillar was eroded during a typhoon.
“A wrongful policy is even more horrendous than corruption,” Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Taipei City Councilor Wang Shih-chien (王世堅) said.
Wang said Ma had rushed to start construction in a bid to appeal to voters.
“It turned out that the seeming glory of the system at the time was nothing but a pipe dream, because it was just a money-losing proposition that no private corporation will be willing to take and whose financial distress will only go from bad to worse,” Wang said.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Taipei City Councilor Lee Ching-yuan (李慶元) blamed the dwindling popularity of the gondola on the lack of action on the part of Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin’s (郝龍斌) administration to build a leisure area.
Taipei City Bureau of Transportation Director Lin Chih-ying (林志盈), who has served under both Ma and Hau, said that passengers rode the gondola only to “try it out.”
“Because of limitations imposed by land use regulations around the mountainous area of Maokong, we have not developed tourist attractions,” Lin said.
The TRTC said it was stepping up promotions, as well as reducing internal expenses, such as personnel and electricity.
The navy’s new 10,600-tonne warship is on Tuesday to be christened the ROCN Yushan (玉山), as the nation’s indigenous shipbuilding program reaches a milestone, sources said yesterday. The vessel, previously referred to as the “new landing platform dock,” was at a shipyard with its name freshly painted on the hull with the number 1401, the Liberty Times (the sister paper of the Taipei Times) reported yesterday, citing an unnamed observer. Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Wang Ting-yu (王定宇), a member of the legislature’s National Defense and Foreign Affairs Committee, confirmed the report in a Facebook post. The NT$4.635 billion (US$163 million) ship is designed
DIALOGUE SOUGHT: Washington said it was concerned about the pattern of ongoing attempts to intimidate Taiwan after the 10th day of PLA activity in the region The US on Monday urged Beijing to stop its multifaceted pressure campaign against Taiwan after China sent 25 military jets into Taiwan’s air defense identification zone. “The United States notes with concern the pattern of ongoing PRC [People’s Republic of China] attempts to intimidate the region, including Taiwan,” a US Department of State spokesperson said in an e-mail response to questions. “We urge Beijing to cease its military, diplomatic and economic pressure against Taiwan, and instead engage in meaningful dialogue with Taiwan.” The Ministry of National Defense said that 25 Chinese military aircraft entered the zone on Monday. It was the 10th straight
‘NOT ENTHUSIASTIC’: People who have been approved by the CECC as special cases who need to travel, such as foreign diplomats, would be able to receive a vaccine The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday expanded the eligibility for COVID-19 vaccination to the fourth priority group — people who need to travel abroad for special reasons — adding that out-of-pocket vaccines would be available from Wednesday next week. Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the center, said although Taiwan’s COVID-19 vaccination program was on Monday expanded to include the top three groups in the priority list, people are still “not enthusiastic” about getting vaccinated. “Only 1,220 people received a vaccine shot on Tuesday, and a total of 27,113 people have received COVID-19 vaccination” so far, he
INTERNATIONAL WEED DAY: Advocates are to hold a demonstration to push for the decriminalization of marijuana and allowing its use for treatment of certain conditions It is time for Taiwanese society to examine the medical benefits of cannabis, in line with the international trend to lift restrictions on and decriminalize the use of marijuana, two legislators said yesterday, ahead of tomorrow’s “Rally for Equal Rights for Cannabis” in Taipei. Taiwan is one of a few countries holding a “420 International Weed Day” event — which usually takes place around the April 20 weekend — as most nations have canceled it this year because of the COVID-19 pandemic, said organizer Green Sensation, which is composed of doctors, lawyers and entertainers, among others. The group released a
RSS