The demand for tickets for the Puyuma Express operating between Taipei and Taitung has reached such a peak that the Ministry of Transportation and Communications is considering offering discounts to passengers boarding the Tzuchiang-class trains to Hualien or Taitung during off-peak hours to ease demand, Minister of Transportation and Communications Yeh Kuan-shih (葉匡時) said yesterday.
Yeh made the comments at a press conference encouraging people to travel to Hualien and Taitung using the public transport system.
Aside from the Puyuma Express and the Taroko Express, which are tilting trains, travelers can also board diesel-powered or push-pull Tzuchiang-class express trains if they want to travel to Taitung.
The demand for Puyuma Express trains rose dramatically after the launch of an electrified railway line between Hualien and Taitung, as the service has reduced the travel time from Taipei to Taitung from 4.5 hours to 3.5 hours.
However, many travelers have complained that it is difficult to get tickets for the Puyuma Express after the railway operator started a new train schedule yesterday and placed all train cabins in use, particularly for trains operating during holidays.
In response, Yeh said that two-thirds of the seats on the Puyuma Express are reserved for travelers to Taitung, whereas the remaining seats are for travelers to Hualien. To ease the demand, he said, the ministry is considering appropriating more seats for passengers to Taitung.
The Taiwan Railways Administration has already lowered the ticket prices for the diesel-powered Tzuchiang-class express train by about 3 percent, but Yeh said that it might be too small an incentive to attract buyers.
He said that the administration has proposed different fares for trains operating during peak and off-peak hours, and such a new ticketing scheme could be introduced in February next year when the railway operator is scheduled to present a new train schedule.
He added that the administration would spend the following two to three weeks gathering data on passenger volumes to determine an off-peak ticket discount.
Commenting on presales of Puyuma Express tickets in the next two weeks, Yeh said that the sales figures appear to have exceeded the ministry’s expectations and it suspected that scalpers had launched a massive buyout of tickets to resell them at higher prices.
“The fundamental solution to meet the rising demand for the East Coast Transport System is to make the entire Hualien-Taitung railway route a double-track system. It is also necessary to construct a straight railway route connecting Taipei and Yilan. Both Puyuma and Taroko Express trains are tilting trains and do not have to lower their speed when they drive through curves. If there is a straight railway route, Tzuchiang-class express trains can operate just as fast as the tilting trains,” he said.
The railways administration said that off-peak discounts would only apply to diesel-powered and push-pull Tzuchiang-class trains.
Off-peak hours may refer to certain hours during the day or certain weekdays, it said, adding that the proposal would be submitted to the ministry for further review.
Costa Rica sent a group of intelligence officials to Taiwan for a short-term training program, the first time the Central American country has done so since the countries ended official diplomatic relations in 2007, a Costa Rican media outlet reported last week. Five officials from the Costa Rican Directorate of Intelligence and Security last month spent 23 days in Taipei undergoing a series of training sessions focused on national security, La Nacion reported on Friday, quoting unnamed sources. The Costa Rican government has not confirmed the report. The Chinese embassy in Costa Rica protested the news, saying in a statement issued the same
Temperatures in New Taipei City’s Sindian District (新店) climbed past 37°C yesterday, as the Central Weather Administration (CWA) issued heat alerts for 16 municipalities, warning the public of intense heat expected across Taiwan. The hottest location in Taiwan was in Sindian, where the mercury reached 37.5°C at about 2pm, according to CWA data. Taipei’s Shilin District (士林) recorded a temperature of 37.4°C at noon, Taitung County’s Jinfeng Township (金峰) at 12:50 pm logged a temperature of 37.4°C and Miaoli County’s Toufen Township (頭份) reached 36.7°C at 11:40am, the CWA said. The weather agency yesterday issued a yellow level information notice for Taipei, New
Taiwan’s Liu Ming-i, right, who also goes by the name Ray Liu, poses with a Chinese Taipei flag after winning the gold medal in the men’s physique 170cm competition at the International Fitness and Bodybuilding Federation Asian Championship in Ajman, United Arab Emirates, yesterday.
A year-long renovation of Taipei’s Bangka Park (艋舺公園) began yesterday, as city workers fenced off the site and cleared out belongings left by homeless residents who had been living there. Despite protests from displaced residents, a city official defended the government’s relocation efforts, saying transitional housing has been offered. The renovation of the park in Taipei’s Wanhua District (萬華), near Longshan Temple (龍山寺), began at 9am yesterday, as about 20 homeless people packed their belongings and left after being asked to move by city personnel. Among them was a 90-year-old woman surnamed Wang (王), who last week said that she had no plans
RSS