The nation's convenience stores are set to deliver even more convenience as consumers will soon be able to buy train and high-speed rail tickets at leading chains.
The top three convenience store operators, 7-Eleven, FamilyMart (全家) and Hi-Life (萊爾富), are in talks with the Taiwan Railway Administration and the Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp (
It is expected that consumers will be able to buy train tickets, with seating already arranged, from any of the three operators' 4,700 outlets Lunar New Year in February next year.
Under the second stage of the plan, buyers would be able to select their favorite seats via interactive machines installed in the outlets, said Jackie Su (蘇嘉麒), head of the marketing department at President Chain Store Corp (統一超商), which owns the 7-Eleven brand.
As for selling high-speed rail tickets, Su said it depends on when the bullet train system is launched, but it should be available between March and June next year at the earliest.
The President chain installed the "ibon" kiosks at the end of August, allowing consumers with USB flash drives to print, scan or copy documents.
It plans to sell movie tickets for Vieshow (威秀), Showtime (欣欣) and Core Pacific City Mall (京華城) cinemas next month.
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