The Taiwan Railways Administration (TRA) yesterday said that its new ticketing system is functioning smoothly and has met all necessary criteria, adding that nearly 90 percent of people who have used the system since it was released for external testing last month had found it easy to use.
The statement came after Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Jason Hsu (許毓仁) on Thursday last week accused the agency of treating people like lab rats by launching the system two days earlier without first testing it.
He also demanded that the TRA give a detailed account of how it spent NT$1 billion (US$32.4 million) to update the system.
The TRA said that it cost NT$1.097 billion to create the system, of which about half, NT$589 million, was used to create its core systems.
Building the system’s network and workstations cost NT$256 million; purchasing onboard mobile devices for train conductors cost NT$53 million; NT$18 million went toward reinforcing information security; NT$35 million was used on Internet and mobile communication services; and building the ticket system’s backup center cost NT$123 million, the agency said.
It also budgeted NT$202 million to fund peripherals for the ticketing system, of which NT$10.8 million went toward building the new ticketing app, it added.
“We adhered to the Government Procurement Act (政府採購法) when organizing the auction, and followed procedures for the final acceptance of the project,” the agency said, adding that every step was conducted in a fair, open and just manner.
As of yesterday, 169,249 group tickets and 246,177 individual tickets had been sold through the new system, generating revenue of NT$91.95 million, the TRA said.
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