People using the Taoyuan International Airport MRT Line were encouraged to take advantage of special discounts after the Taoyuan Metro started charging full fares yesterday.
The company had given airport MRT line passengers a 50 percent discount for one month after the system was launched on March 2.
To mark the first month of the line’s operation, the company yesterday morning distributed longan-flavored cupcakes to passengers in all stations along the line.
Photo: CNA
Traveling from Taipei Main Station (A1) to Airport Terminal 1 (A12) or Terminal 2 (A13) costs NT$160.
The company said that individual commuters will get a 30 percent discount if they purchase a 30-day pass, adding that they will get a 35 percent or 40 percent discount if they buy a 60-day or a 90-day pass, respectively.
The pass cards will have the cardholder’s name on them and will grant unlimited access to the line between designated stations.
The company also offers discounts to corporations, communities, schools and government agencies.
Groups purchasing more than 300 tickets at a time would be given a 50 percent discount, the company said.
Company statistics showed that the line’s ridership reached 1.8 million between March 2 and March 28, with an average of 66,000 passengers per day.
Average daily ridership was about 57,000 on weekdays and 90,000 on weekends and holidays during the period.
Some people said that the company’s real challenge has begun as it must boost ridership without offering discounts to all passengers.
A 20-year-old woman, surnamed Su (蘇), said she has been commuting between Taipei Main Station and the Chang Kung Memorial Hospital Station for the past two weeks.
She said that although it is convenient to use the line, the ticket price will cost more than the bus fare now that the MRT line charges full price.
Su said she will switch back to taking the bus.
A 36-year-old man, surnamed Fu (傅), said that using the line is much more comfortable and convenient than driving.
He said he does not think the cost of riding the line would be too high for him, as he is not a frequent passenger.
ECHOVIRUS 11: The rate of enterovirus infections in northern Taiwan increased last week, with a four-year-old girl developing acute flaccid paralysis, the CDC said Two imported cases of chikungunya fever were reported last week, raising the total this year to 13 cases — the most for the same period in 18 years, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday. The two cases were a Taiwanese and a foreign national who both arrived from Indonesia, CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Deputy Director Lee Chia-lin (李佳琳) said. The 13 cases reported this year are the most for the same period since chikungunya was added to the list of notifiable communicable diseases in October 2007, she said, adding that all the cases this year were imported, including 11 from
Prosecutors in New Taipei City yesterday indicted 31 individuals affiliated with the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) for allegedly forging thousands of signatures in recall campaigns targeting three Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers. The indictments stem from investigations launched earlier this year after DPP lawmakers Su Chiao-hui (蘇巧慧) and Lee Kuen-cheng (李坤城) filed criminal complaints accusing campaign organizers of submitting false signatures in recall petitions against them. According to the New Taipei District Prosecutors Office, a total of 2,566 forged recall proposal forms in the initial proposer petition were found during the probe. Among those
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) today condemned the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) after the Czech officials confirmed that Chinese agents had surveilled Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) during her visit to Prague in March last year. Czech Military Intelligence director Petr Bartovsky yesterday said that Chinese operatives had attempted to create the conditions to carry out a demonstrative incident involving Hsiao, going as far as to plan a collision with her car. Hsiao was vice president-elect at the time. The MAC said that it has requested an explanation and demanded a public apology from Beijing. The CCP has repeatedly ignored the desires
The Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant’s license has expired and it cannot simply be restarted, the Executive Yuan said today, ahead of national debates on the nuclear power referendum. The No. 2 reactor at the Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant in Pingtung County was disconnected from the nation’s power grid and completely shut down on May 17, the day its license expired. The government would prioritize people’s safety and conduct necessary evaluations and checks if there is a need to extend the service life of the reactor, Executive Yuan spokeswoman Michelle Lee (李慧芝) told a news conference. Lee said that the referendum would read: “Do
RSS