Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp (THSRC) does not plan to raise ticket prices, Minister of Transportation and Communications Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday, but added that the high-speed rail operator should set a ticket price that people can afford.
Lin responded to questions from lawmakers at a meeting of the Legislative Yuan’s Transportation Committee about whether ticket prices would increase after the Ministry of Transportation and Communications on Monday announced that the basic rate for the rail system would increase from NT$4.134 per passenger-kilometer to NT$4.597 per passenger-kilometer.
At the new rate, a one-way high-speed rail ticket from Taipei to Kaohsiung would cost NT$ 1,560, up from the current NT$1,490.
Despite the increase in the basic rate, the company had said that a ticket price increase depended on the results of a comprehensive evaluation of socioeconomic factors, operational costs, competitiveness in the market and customer demands, adding that resolutions reached at a company board meeting would need to be followed.
The Railway Bureau said that any decision to raise the price of high-speed rail tickets would need to first be approved by the Legislative Yuan.
The lawmakers — many of whom are running for re-election next year — remained dubious that THSRC plans to keep its price unchanged, even after Lin reassured them multiple times during the meeting.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lee Kun-tse (李昆澤) said that the high-speed rail operator should not get carried away and act like a spoiled child.
The company was on the verge of bankruptcy and only turned operations around after the ministry and taxpayers allowed it to extend its concession period to 35 years when it went through a fiscal reform in 2015, Lee said.
Government agencies also jointly invested NT$30 billion (US$973.49 million at the current exchange) to fund its operation, Lee added.
“THSRC should work on improving system safety and looking after customers. The ministry should be held responsible if the company dares to raise ticket prices,” Lee said.
THSRC had NT$10.6 billion in earnings last year and has a market monopoly, Lee said, adding that the system has 5 million passengers per month, but that it has gradually canceled discount plans, which is intolerable.
The Taiwan Railways Administration does not dare raise its prices, even though it suffers financial losses, so THSRC should not raise ticket prices after earning so much revenue, DPP Legislator Lin Chun-hsien (林俊憲) said.
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