The Taiwan Railways Administration (TRA) yesterday unveiled new ticket machines, which people will be able to start using at stations in Taipei, Taichung, Kaohsiung and Hualien from now until Monday next week.
The TRA aims to install 144 of the machines at 38 stations across Taiwan by the end of August, TRA Deputy Director General Du Wei (杜微) said, adding that the old machines would be replaced by October next year.
The new machines allow people to book tickets with or without reserved seats, operations that have until now been done on separate machines, the TRA said.
Photo: Peter Lo, Taipei Times
The new machines add mobile payment options, such as Apple Pay, Google Pay and others, to cash and credit card payment methods, it said.
People who book tickets at a convenience store can print them at the new machines, the agency said, adding that they also have add-value services for payment cards.
The most distinctive feature of the new machines is that they allow people to cancel tickets and get a refund directly, making it the only railway operator to offer such a service, it said.
To request a refund, the ticket is inserted into the machine and a refund button is pressed, the TRA said.
Refunds — minus a processing fee — would be in cash if the ticket was purchased with cash, it said.
If a refunded ticket was purchased with a credit card, the machine would return the money to the account minus the processing fee, it said.
The new machines are in two sizes: one at a standard height and the other for physically disabled people, it said.
The machines offer service in Chinese, English, Japanese, Korean, Thai, Indonesian, Filipino, Vietnamese, German, French and Spanish, the TRA said.
An Indonesian passenger surnamed Teng (鄧) tried one of the new machines at Taipei Railway Station yesterday.
Booking train tickets with the new machines would be much faster than buying them from ticket windows, Teng said.
“Many of my Indonesian friends who cannot speak or read Chinese have to buy the tickets from the window, and we need to translate for them. Now with the new machines, you can book tickets and pay with a debit or EasyCard, and you can read the instructions in Indonesian,” she said.
It is easy and convenient to request a refund using the machine, she said, adding that the system charges a reasonable fee.
In Indonesia, many people do not bother to request a refund for a train ticket, because the procedure is too complicated, she said.
The TRA would upgrade automatic ticket gates by incorporating scanners for QR codes on tickets, Du said, adding that it would finish the upgrade in four years.
NATIONAL SECURITY: Authorities are working to confirm the identities of the military personnel involved and investigating possible illegal conduct and regulatory violations Authorities are probing possible national security implications after Kinmen police and immigration officers on Sunday found a Chinese woman allegedly posing as a tourist while engaging in prostitution involving more than 10 military personnel. The woman, surnamed Chen (陳), has since been deported, authorities said, adding that investigators are still working to confirm the identities of those implicated, as the records only listed code names and aliases. The case stemmed from a report received by the Kinmen District Prosecutors’ Office on Friday last week from the Jinhu Precinct of the Kinmen County Police Bureau. On Sunday, police, along with the National Immigration
GLOBALGIVING: ‘ Caving to external pressure is not acceptable for an organization that has cultivated justice reform and human rights for 30 years,’ one NGO said A slew of non-government organizations (NGOs) have withdrawn from the GlobalGiving fundraising platform after it announced it would use “Chinese Taipei” instead of “Taiwan” from next month. The Taiwan Good Rice Association wrote on Facebook on Friday that it was informed on April 28 via a teleconference call of the change, which was made because the platform wanted to operate in China. Taiwan Good Rice is to terminate all cooperative relationships with GlobalGiving in response to the platform’s “unilateral and non-negotiable” decision to remove references to Taiwan, the NGO said. “Taiwan is in the official name of Taiwan Good Rice Association and the
HEAVY WEATHER: Typhoon Jangmi is due to crash straight into the Ryukyus as airlines look to shift flights to larger aircraft or cancel flights to Okinawa entirely Taiwan’s international air carriers announced flight adjustments over the weekend as Typhoon Jangmi is forecast to hit the Ryukyu Islands today and tomorrow. The Central Weather Administration (CWA) upgraded Jangmi from a tropical storm to a typhoon at 8am yesterday, with the eye located 580km south of Naha city. It was moving north at 19kph. Today, China Airlines’ CI-120, CI-121, CI-122 and CI-123 flights between Taoyuan and Naha, Okinawa, have been canceled as well as CI-132 and CI-133 between Kaohsiung and Naha. EVA Air’s BR-112, BR-113, BR-186 and BR-185 flights between Taoyuan and Naha are also canceled. Low-cost carrier Tigerair Taiwan canceled IT-230,
REASONS FOR TRAVEL: An assistant professor said that proposed amendments to penalize drivers if they used drugs overseas would not deter people from traveling People who operate a motor vehicle under the influence of marijuana would have their driver’s license revoked, even if they used the substance while overseas, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications said yesterday, citing proposed amendments to the Road Traffic Management and Penalty Act (道路交通管理處罰條例). The amendments would also authorize the government to revoke the licenses of people determined to have used Category 1 or Category 2 narcotics, even if they were not operating a vehicle while under the influence of drugs, as well as ban them from taking the license test for three years, the ministry said. People aged 18 or
RSS