The Kaohsiung MRT metropolitan railway system posted an operating loss of NT$100 million (US$3.51 million) last year, due to a sharp decline in ridership amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Kaohsiung Rapid Transit Corp (KRTC) said yesterday.
After three years of profit, the city’s MRT was hit by a 26 percent drop in daily ridership, from an average of 178,000 in 2019 to 132,000 last year, said the KRTC, which manages the system.
The steep drop in ridership was caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, and negatively affected the system’s operations, said Wang Po-yan (王柏雁), head of KRTC’s public relations division.
The MRT system became profitable from 2017 to 2019, and its employees received pay raises, after reporting years of operating losses since its launch in 2008 due to low passenger volumes.
Since the start of this year, the passenger volume has risen slightly to 135,000 per day, but a much higher volume would be required to begin making a profit again, Wang said.
To boost ridership, the KRTC is offering a 90-day unlimited pass for NT$3,000, until June, targeting mainly office workers and students who use the MRT frequently, he said.
Meanwhile, to help the MRT weather the effects of COVID-19, the Kaohsiung City Mass Rapid Transit Bureau has reduced the rent for the land being used by KRTC for the system.
Separately, the Kaohsiung City Transportation Bureau reported a drop of nearly 20 percent in ridership on city buses due to the COVID-19 pandemic, saying that people are not going out much and are using their own vehicles when they do.
A magnitude 6.4 earthquake struck off the coast of Hualien County in eastern Taiwan at 7pm yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The epicenter of the temblor was at sea, about 69.9km south of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 30.9km, it said. There were no immediate reports of damage resulting from the quake. The earthquake’s intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was highest in Taitung County’s Changbin Township (長濱), where it measured 5 on Taiwan’s seven-tier intensity scale. The quake also measured an intensity of 4 in Hualien, Nantou, Chiayi, Yunlin, Changhua and Miaoli counties, as well as
Credit departments of farmers’ and fishers’ associations blocked a total of more than NT$180 million (US$6.01 million) from being lost to scams last year, National Police Agency (NPA) data showed. The Agricultural Finance Agency (AFA) said last week that staff of farmers’ and fishers’ associations’ credit departments are required to implement fraud prevention measures when they serve clients at the counter. They would ask clients about personal financial management activities whenever they suspect there might be a fraud situation, and would immediately report the incident to local authorities, which would send police officers to the site to help, it said. NPA data showed
ENERGY RESILIENCE: Although Alaska is open for investments, Taiwan is sourcing its gas from the Middle East, and the sea routes carry risks, Ho Cheng-hui said US government officials’ high-profile reception of a Taiwanese representative at the Alaska Sustainable Energy Conference indicated the emergence of an Indo-Pacific energy resilience alliance, an academic said. Presidential Office Secretary-General Pan Men-an (潘孟安) attended the conference in Alaska on Thursday last week at the invitation of the US government. Pan visited oil and gas facilities with senior US officials, including US Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum, US Secretary of Energy Chris Wright, Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy and US Senator Daniel Sullivan. Pan attending the conference on behalf of President William Lai (賴清德) shows a significant elevation in diplomatic representation,
The Taipei MRT is to begin accepting mobile payment services in the fall, Taipei Rapid Transit Corp said on Saturday. When the company finishes the installation of new payment units at ticketing gates in October, MRT passengers can use credit cards, Apple Pay, Google Pay and Samsung Pay, the operator said. In addition, the MRT would also provide QR payment codes — which would be compatible with Line Pay, Jkopay, iPass Money, PXPay Plus, EasyWallet, iCash Pay, Taiwan Pay and Taishin Pay — to access the railway system. Currently, passengers can access the Taipei MRT by buying a single-journey token or using EasyCard,
RSS