Taichung Mayor Lu Shiow- yen (盧秀燕) on Friday announced the city’s plan to offer residents a NT$299 (US$9.75) monthly public transport pass from June as part of a central government project to subsidize public transport.
The pass, which is to cost NT$599 for non-residents, would allow unlimited travel on public transport in Taichung, including city buses, rented bicycles and mass rapid transit (MRT) lines, Lu said.
Also available would be an intercity travel pass, which costs NT$699 for Taichung residents and NT$999 for non-residents, she said.
Photo: Su Meng-chuan, Taipei Times
The intercity travel pass would allow unlimited travel on public transport across Taichung and neighboring Changhua, Nantou and Miaoli counties, covering local city/intercity buses, MRT lines, Taiwan Railways Administration (TRA) trains and bicycle-sharing services.
The Taichung City government said it is also working to expand the area covered by intercity travel services by encouraging the participation of other local governments, such as Hsinchu city and county, Yunlin County and Chiayi City.
The central government project to promote public transport, which includes similar fare subsidies in northern and southern Taiwan, is part of the Cabinet’s disbursement of a NT$380 billion tax surplus last year, but still needs to be approved by the legislature.
The Kaohsiung City Government has said it plans to introduce next month a NT$399 monthly public transport pass for unlimited travel on the Kaohsiung MRT, light rail, city buses, ferries and bicycle-sharing service.
Kaohsiung, Tainan and Pingtung County are also looking to introduce a joint NT$999 monthly pass that would allow unlimited travel between the three destinations via TRA trains and intercity buses.
A NT$1,200 monthly public transport pass serving Taipei, New Taipei City, Taoyuan and Keelung is also likely to be introduced in July, providing unlimited travel on the Taipei and Taoyuan MRT, city buses, bicycles and TRA.
SECURITY: Starlink owner Elon Musk has taken pro-Beijing positions, and allowing pro-China companies to control Taiwan’s critical infrastructure is risky, a legislator said Starlink was reluctant to offer services in Taiwan because of the nation’s extremely high penetration rates in 4G and 5G services, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said yesterday. The ministry made the comments at a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee, which reviewed amendments to Article 36 of the Telecommunications Management Act (電信管理法). Article 36 bans foreigners from holding more than 49 percent of shares in public telecommunications networks, while shares foreigners directly and indirectly hold are also capped at 60 percent of the total, unless specified otherwise by law. The amendments, sponsored by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Ko
The eastern extension of the Taipei MRT Red Line could begin operations as early as late June, the Taipei Department of Rapid Transit Systems said yesterday. Taipei Rapid Transit Corp said it is considering offering one month of free rides on the new section to mark its opening. Construction progress on the 1.4km extension, which is to run from the current terminal Xiangshan Station to a new eastern terminal, Guangci/Fengtian Temple Station, was 90.6 percent complete by the end of last month, the department said in a report to the Taipei City Council's Transportation Committee. While construction began in October 2016 with an
NON-RED SUPPLY: Boosting the nation’s drone industry is becoming increasingly urgent as China’s UAV dominance could become an issue in a crisis, an analyst said Taiwan’s drone exports to Europe grew 41.7-fold from 2024 to last year, with demand from Ukraine’s fight against Russian aggression the most likely driver of growth, a study showed. The Institute for Democracy, Society and Emerging Technology (DSET) in a statement on Wednesday said it found that many of Taiwan’s uncrewed aerial vehicle (UAV) sales were from Poland and the Czech Republic. These countries likely transferred the drones to Ukraine to aid it in its fight against the Russian invasion that started in 2022, it said. Despite the gains, Taiwan is not the dominant drone exporter to these markets, ranking second and fourth
The military has spotted two Chinese warships operating in waters near Penghu County in the Taiwan Strait and sent its own naval and air forces to monitor the vessels, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said. Beijing sends warships and warplanes into the waters and skies around Taiwan on an almost daily basis, drawing condemnation from Taipei. While the ministry offers daily updates on the locations of Chinese military aircraft, it only rarely gives details of where Chinese warships are operating, generally only when it detects aircraft carriers, as happened last week. A Chinese destroyer and a frigate entered waters to the southwest
RSS