Dozens of tour bus operators rallied in front of the Ministry of Transportation and Communica-tions yesterday morning to protest the government's policy on "overweight" tour buses.
They said the policy is too harsh and the government has been inflexible about it, which they said was unacceptable.
Cheng Chin-yun (
PHOTO: FANG PIN-CHAO, TAIPEI TIMES
"If we are forced to modify the buses to fit the government's requirement, they will become unsafe to drive," Cheng said.
In addition, since the buses have to be recertified every two years, this means the owners would have to strip down the vehicles every two years to meet the certification requirements, which is unreasonable, Cheng added.
The operators also demanded the government offer special discounts for fuel as it does for other forms of public transport such as public buses and taxis.
When asked how many tour bus operators are affected by the regulation, Cheng said there were too many to count.
Protesters began their demonstration yesterday morning with a parade that took them from the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial to the Legislative Yuan to present their petitions to the lawmakers. They then drove to the ministry.
The ministry has set different weight limits for motor vehicles according to size and the model. For tour buses, the weight limit is 17 tonnes.
Following the suggestion of some lawmakers, the ministry amended its regulations by allowing vehicles that exceed weight limits by no more 800kg to be certified. In return, drivers of these overweight vehicles must drive below 90kph on freeways.
Officials from both the Department of Highways and Railways and the Directorate General of Highways said overweight tour buses are not a big problem.
They said that 90 percent of the nation's tour buses have been the certification requirements.
There are about 1,000 buses that could be categorized as "overweight," of which about 700 exceed the weight limit by 800kg or less, they said.
The ministry is unlikely to compromise on passenger safety by relaxing the regulation, they said.
The first of 10 new high-capacity trains purchased from South Korea’s Hyundai Rotem arrived at the Port of Taipei yesterday to meet the demands of an expanding metro network, Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC) said yesterday. The train completed a three-day, 1,200km voyage from the Port of Masan in South Korea, the company said. Costing NT$590 million (US$18.79 million) each, the new six-carriage trains feature a redesigned interior based on "human-centric" transportation concepts, TRTC said. The design utilizes continuous longitudinal seating to widen the aisles and optimize passenger flow, while also upgrading passenger information displays and driving control systems for a more comfortable
Taiwan's first indigenous defense submarine, the SS-711 Hai Kun (海鯤, or Narwhal), departed for its 13th sea trial at 7am today, marking its seventh submerged test, with delivery to the navy scheduled for July. The outing also marked its first sea deployment since President William Lai (賴清德) boarded the submarine for an inspection on March 19, drawing a crowd of military enthusiasts who gathered to show support. The submarine this morning departed port accompanied by CSBC Corp’s Endeavor Manta (奮進魔鬼魚號) uncrewed surface vessel and a navy M109 assault boat. Amid public interest in key milestones such as torpedo-launching operations and overnight submerged trials,
Quarantine awareness posters at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport have gone viral for their use of wordplay. Issued by the airport branch of the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency, the posters feature sniffer dogs making a range of facial expressions, paired with advisory messages built around homophones. “We update the messages for holidays and campaign needs, periodically refreshing materials to attract people’s attention,” quarantine officials said. “The aim is to use the dogs’ appeal to draw focus to quarantine regulations.” A Japanese traveler visiting Taiwan has posted a photo on X of a poster showing a quarantine dog with a
Taiwan’s coffee community has launched a “one-person-one-e-mail” campaign, calling for people to send a protest-e-mail to the World Coffee Championships (WCC) urging it to redesignate Taiwanese competitors as from “Taiwan,” rather than “Chinese Taipei.” The call followed sudden action last week after the WCC changed all references to Taiwanese competitors from “Taiwan” to “Chinese Taipei,” including recent World Latte Art champion Bala (林紹興), who won the World Latte Art Championship in San Diego earlier this month. When Bala received the trophy, he was referred to as representing Taiwan, as well as in the announcement on the WCC’s Web site, until it
RSS