Commemorative train ticket sets that mark Valentine’s Day with a play on words sold out in just over an hour after going on sale at a Taiwan Railways Administration station yesterday.
The tickets, dated Feb. 14, 2014, were for a one-way trip from Dalin (大林, pronounced similarly to “darling” in English) station in Chiayi County to Gueilai (歸來, literally: “come back”) station in Pingtung County, making the “Darling, come back” tickets a popular item for couples and collectors.
The tickets went on sale at 9am at Pingtung Station, but all 3,500 sets were sold out by 10:14am.
Photo: Lin Yi-chang, Taipei Times
Another 200 sets on sale at Dalin Station were snatched up in less than 20 minutes.
First in line at Dalin Station was a man surnamed Cheng (鄭) from nearby Chiayi City, who lined up at 5:08am.
Cheng said the ticket was in remembrance of his girlfriend.
The two never had the chance to spend Valentine’s Day together before she died of illness in November last year, he said.
“Hopefully this belated present can make up for my regrets,” Cheng added.
Over the years, the railway agency has launched a number of commemorative ticket packages that play on the names of specific stations.
One of the most popular was a commemorative ticket set featuring Yongkang (永康) and Baoan (保安) stations in Greater Tainan.
If read clockwise, the characters say yongbao ankang (forever in peace and health).
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
CHANGES: After-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during vacations or after-school study periods must not be used to teach new material, the ministry said The Ministry of Education yesterday announced new rules that would ban giving tests to most elementary and junior-high school students during morning study and afternoon rest periods. The amendments to regulations governing public education at elementary schools and junior high schools are to be implemented on Aug. 1. The revised rules stipulate that schools are forbidden to use after-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during summer or winter vacation or after-school study periods to teach new course material. In addition, schools would be prohibited from giving tests or exams to students in grades one to eight during morning study and afternoon break periods, the
AMENDMENT: Contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau must be reported, and failure to comply could result in a prison sentence, the proposal stated The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) yesterday voted against a proposed bill by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers that would require elected officials to seek approval before visiting China. DPP Legislator Puma Shen’s (沈伯洋) proposed amendments to 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), stipulate that contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau should be reported, while failure to comply would be punishable by prison sentences of up to three years, alongside a fine of NT$10 million (US$309,041). Fifty-six voted with the TPP in opposition
Advocates of the rights of motorcycle and scooter riders yesterday protested in front of the Ministry of Transportation and Communications in Taipei, making three demands. They were joined by 30 passenger vehicles, which surrounded the ministry to make three demands related to traffic regulations — that motorcycles and scooters above 250cc be allowed on highways, that all motorcycles and scooters be allowed on inside lanes, and that driver and rider training programs be reformed. The ministry said that it has no plans to allow motorcycles on national highways for the time being, and said that motorcycles would be allowed on the inner