The Ministry of Transportation and Communications yesterday said that local governments should make public transport development the top priority in their transportation policies, adding that it could ask local governments to refund subsidies granted to them if a transport facility is underused or demolished because of inadequate evaluation in its planning.
“We will support public transport projects proposed by local governments if we consider them to be necessary after careful evaluation and if local governments promise to adequately promote their use,” the ministry said in a statement.
“If local governments fail to conduct a thorough assessment or enforcement complementary measures that lead to low usage rates or demolition of any transport facility, we will ask the local government to address the situation,” it said. “The ministry does not exclude the possibility that it might request a refund of subsidies used to develop the public transport system.”
“It would also take such situations into consideration when deciding on subsidies granted to cities and counties for any national project in the future,” it added.
Ministry official Hu Ti-chi (胡迪琦) said the statement was not targeting any certain case.
Hu said subsidies are used to raise the overall quality of the nation’s public transport services and cover bus station construction, new buses, card readers, the creation of new service routes and other projects.
The government does not subsidize ticket discounts, she said.
“If a certain route was built using subsidies and was removed later, the ministry will not subsidize the route again,” Hu said.
The statement was issued less than a week after the Taipei City Government demolished the exclusive bus lane outside the Taipei Railway Station on Zhongxiao W Road.
Taipei Mayor Ke Wen-je (柯文哲), who ordered the demolition of the bus lane, defended the action, saying the decision was made based on professional assessments.
Prior to being elected, Ko had made removing the bus lane one of his campaign promises.
Meanwhile, Greater Taichung Mayor Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) also ordered re-evaluations of the six bus routes for the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system, which cost NT$4 billion (US$126 million) to build.
The fate of the BRT system elsewhere became uncertain as Chiayi Mayor Twu Shiing-jer (涂醒哲) said he would remove the city’s BRT lane.
Hu said Greater Taichung received subsidies topping NT$188 million over the past four years to build the BRT system and purchase the new buses.
According to the ministry, funding for public transport systems has increased since 2010.
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