The government is considering a TPass version that is valid for short periods, and versions designed for international tourists and domestic businesspeople, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications said yesterday.
The ministry unveiled the plan at a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee, at which it briefed lawmakers on the results of the monthly TPass program since it began in July last year.
The ministry said in a report to the committee that it is considering TPass plans that are valid for 14 or fewer days, adding that the Highway Bureau is seeking input on the proposal and has a trial period planned at the end of this year.
Photo courtesy of Easycard Corp
The ministry said that it is seeking additional funding from the Executive Yuan to continue the TPass program after 2026.
Minister of Transportation and Communications Li Meng-yen (李孟諺) said that the ministry is considering issuing five-day or seven-day TPass plans, which would be convenient for international visitors and domestic business travelers.
Having more diverse plans helps expand the user base, Li said.
Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Hsu Chih-chieh (許智傑) said that people with a TPass 2.0 plan should be allowed to use it to access tourist attractions.
Li said that he would ask the Highway Bureau and the Tourism Administration to study the idea.
The monthly pass program was launched in metropolitan areas across Taiwan to make commuting more convenient and boost public transportation use, the report said.
Local governments in each metropolitan area can roll out tailored TPass plans and determine the transportation systems they encompass, it said.
The TPass available in Taipei, New Taipei City, Keelung and Taoyuan costs NT$1,200, allowing unlimited access for 30 days to the metro, light-rail, city bus, Taiwan Railway, highway bus, public bike and ferry systems, it said.
Nineteen administrative regions have rolled out TPasses, with 24 plans among them, the report said.
Penghu County is to launch its own TPass next month, it said.
Another TPass plan covering commutes between Taipei and Yilan County is to be launched in September, it added.
As of last month, 7.68 million plans had been sold, with 574 million uses, ministry data showed.
Regarding other matters, Li said that the government welcomes Chinese tourists after Chinese travel service operators scouted travel routes in Lienchiang County (Matsu).
About 150 Chinese tourism officials and industry representatives are expected at the Summer Travel Expo in Taipei, which opens tomorrow, the largest tourism delegation from across the Taiwan Strait since the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We are looking forward to having Chinese visitors in Matsu,” Li said. “We hope this would start soon.”
Taiwan is more open to cross-strait tourism than China, he said.
About 1.7 million Taiwanese traveled to China last year, but only about 200,000 Chinese traveled to Taiwan, he said.
Taiwan has arranged for about 8 million barrels of crude oil, or about one-third of its monthly needs, to be shipped from the Red Sea this month to bypass the Strait of Hormuz and ease domestic supply pressures, CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) said yesterday. The state-run oil company has worked with Middle Eastern suppliers to secure routes other than the Strait of Hormuz, through which about 20 percent of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas typically passes, CPC chairman Fang Jeng-zen (方振仁) said at a meeting of the legislature’s Economics Committee in Taipei. Suppliers in Saudi Arabia have indicated they
A global survey showed that 60 percent of Taiwanese had attained higher education, second only to Canada, the Ministry of the Interior said. Taiwan easily surpassed the global average of 43 percent and ranked ahead of major economies, including Japan, South Korea and the US, data from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) for 2024 showed. Taiwan has a high literacy rate, data released by the ministry showed. As of the end of last year, Taiwan had 20.617 million people aged 15 or older, accounting for 88.5 percent of the total population, with a literacy rate of 99.4 percent, the data
CCP ‘PAWN’? Beijing could use the KMT chairwoman’s visit to signal to the world that many people in Taiwan support the ‘one China’ principle, an academic said Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) yesterday arrived in China for a “peace” mission and potential meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), while a Taiwanese minister detailed the number of Chinese warships currently deployed around the nation. Cheng is visiting at a time of increased Chinese military pressure on Taiwan, as the opposition-dominated Legislative Yuan stalls a government plan for US$40 billion in extra defense spending. Speaking to reporters before going to the airport, Cheng said she was going on a “historic journey for peace,” but added that some people felt uneasy about her trip. “If you truly love Taiwan,
AIR ALERT: China’s reservation of airspace over the Yellow Sea and East China Sea could be an attempt to test the US’ response ahead of a Trump-Xi meeting, the NSB head said China’s attempts to infiltrate Taiwan are systematic, planned and targeted, with activity shifting from recruiting mid-level military officers to rank-and-file enlisted personnel, National Security Bureau (NSB) Director-General Tsai Ming-yen (蔡明彥) said yesterday. The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) integrates national security, intelligence operations and “united front” efforts into a dense network to conduct intelligence gathering and espionage in Taiwan, Tsai said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee. It uses specific networks to screen targets through exchange activities and recruiting local collaborators to establish intelligence-gathering organizations, he said. China is also shifting who it targets to lower-ranking military personnel,
RSS