Independent Taipei mayoral candidate Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) yesterday said that, if elected, he would break the monopoly of EasyCard as the only electronic payment method available in the city.
“As far as electronic payments are concerned, my goal is to allow people to use their cellphones as a tool to do electronic payments in the city. I would also handle the policy with a more open attitude and would not only expand the uses of EasyCards, but also those of other electronic payment cards,” Ko told a press conference called to present his campaign platform on his policy to make Taipei a “smart city.”
“The ultimate goal is to put all these different cards on cellphones,” he added.
Photo: Chiu Shao-wen, Taipei Times
At the moment, while electronic payment cards issued by different companies in collaboration with local governments can be used almost everywhere across the nation as a tool to pay for goods and services, EasyCard remains the only electronic payment method in Taipei.
“A major reason EasyCard has succeeded in Taipei is because it has a monopoly in the city,” Ko said. “EasyCard is not a fully government-run business, therefore the city government is actually helping it in maintaining its monopoly as buses and the Mass Rapid Transit System in Taipei accept EasyCard as the only tool of electronic payment.”
In response to media queries on a recent post on Facebook by his wife, Chen Pei-chi (陳佩琪), saying that she would like to campaign for her husband by going on televised political talk shows, since he does not have much of a budget for campaign ads, Ko said that he would talk to Chen and ask her to drop the idea.
“I often learn about my wife’s Facebook posts via the media and I often feel nervous about them,” Ko said.
“Of course she could make any decision on her own and I would fully respect her. However, I will talk to her when I get home, hoping that she will give up on the idea of being on political commentary shows, because you never know what trouble such a move may cause,” he added.
Meanwhile, Ko declined to comment on President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) remark that a parade in the busy Ximending (西門町) shopping district in Taipei, in which he accompanied Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Taipei mayoral candidate Sean Lien (連勝文), was very effective — when in fact, most of the people in the area complained about the campaign event, as the streets were jammed with security personnel who surrounded Ma and Lien, and the two were unable to have direct contact with the public.
“Everyone has his or her own political judgement and in the end, it is the voters who will decide whether the move was a good one,” Ko said. “You can do what you like, that’s all I have to say.”
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