The legislature's Transportation Committee yesterday asked the Ministry of Transportation and Communications to evaluate the possibility of reducing freeway tolls from NT$40 to NT$30 in parts of central and southern Taiwan.
The committee also passed a resolution that the results of the evaluation should be delivered within a month.
The discount toll fees would apply to National Freeway No. 1 (Sun Yat-sen Freeway), south of the Yuanlin (員林) toll station in Changhua County as well as National Freeway No. 3 (Chiang Wei-shui Freeway), south of the Minchien (民間) toll station in Nantou County.
"On both freeways, the distance between two toll stations in the south is on average 10km shorter than in the north. This means that motorists in the south are being unfairly charged," Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Yeh Yi-ching (
From Yuanlin to Gangshan (
On Chiang Wei-shui Freeway, the average distance between toll stations is 35.3km from Minchien to Tianliao (
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Huang Chao-shun (黃昭順) concurred. Huang said the tolls had already brought in revenues equivalent to the sum spent on constructing the freeways and questioned why motorists were still being charged toll fees.
In response, Taiwan Area National Freeway Bureau Director-General Lee Tai-ming (
Minister of Transportation and Communications Tsai Duei (蔡堆) said the distance between toll stations in the north was further because some sections of the freeways also function as local expressways.
Taiwan is to receive the first batch of Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 jets from the US late this month, a defense official said yesterday, after a year-long delay due to a logjam in US arms deliveries. Completing the NT$247.2 billion (US$7.69 billion) arms deal for 66 jets would make Taiwan the third nation in the world to receive factory-fresh advanced fighter jets of the same make and model, following Bahrain and Slovakia, the official said on condition of anonymity. F-16 Block 70/72 are newly manufactured F-16 jets built by Lockheed Martin to the standards of the F-16V upgrade package. Republic of China
Taiwan-Japan Travel Passes are available for use on public transit networks in the two countries, Taoyuan Metro Corp said yesterday, adding that discounts of up to 7 percent are available. Taoyuan Metro, the Taipei MRT and Japan’s Keisei Electric Railway teamed up to develop the pass. Taoyuan Metro operates the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport MRT Line, while Keisei Electric Railway offers express services between Tokyo’s Narita Airport, and the Keisei Ueno and Nippori stations in the Japanese capital, as well as between Narita and Haneda airports. The basic package comprises one one-way ticket on the Taoyuan MRT Line and one Skyliner ticket on
Many Japanese couples are coming to Taiwan to obtain donated sperm or eggs for fertility treatment due to conservatism in their home country, Taiwan’s high standards and low costs, doctors said. One in every six couples in Japan is receiving infertility treatment, Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare data show. About 70,000 children are born in Japan every year through in vitro fertilization (IVF), or about one in every 11 children born. Few people accept donated reproductive cells in Japan due to a lack of clear regulations, leaving treatment in a “gray zone,” Taichung Nuwa Fertility Center medical director Wang Huai-ling (王懷麟)
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it
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