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.
An increase in Taiwanese boats using China-made automatic identification systems (AIS) could confuse coast guards patrolling waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast and become a loophole in the national security system, sources familiar with the matter said yesterday. Taiwan ADIZ, a Facebook page created by enthusiasts who monitor Chinese military activities in airspace and waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast, on Saturday identified what seemed to be a Chinese cargo container ship near Penghu County. The Coast Guard Administration went to the location after receiving the tip and found that it was a Taiwanese yacht, which had a Chinese AIS installed. Similar instances had also
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
VIGILANCE: The military is paying close attention to actions that might damage peace and stability in the region, the deputy minister of national defense said The People’s Republic of China (PRC) might consider initiating a hack on Taiwanese networks on May 20, the day of the inauguration ceremony of president-elect William Lai (賴清德), sources familiar with cross-strait issues said. While US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s statement of the US expectation “that all sides will conduct themselves with restraint and prudence in the period ahead” would prevent military actions by China, Beijing could still try to sabotage Taiwan’s inauguration ceremony, the source said. China might gain access to the video screens outside of the Presidential Office Building and display embarrassing messages from Beijing, such as congratulating Lai
Four China Coast Guard ships briefly sailed through prohibited waters near Kinmen County, Taipei said, urging Beijing to stop actions that endanger navigation safety. The Chinese ships entered waters south of Kinmen, 5km from the Chinese city of Xiamen, at about 3:30pm on Monday, the Coast Guard Administration said in a statement later the same day. The ships “sailed out of our prohibited and restricted waters” about an hour later, the agency said, urging Beijing to immediately stop “behavior that endangers navigation safety.” Ministry of National Defense spokesman Sun Li-fang (孫立方) yesterday told reporters that Taiwan would boost support to the Coast Guard