The government might absorb the difference in price if freeway bus operators raise their ticket prices by 30 percent, Minister of Transportation and Communications Wang Kwo-tsai (王國材) said yesterday, adding that a proposed price hike must first be examined by an independent review committee.
Wang was scheduled to brief lawmakers at a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee about a draft of the transportation safety basic act, but some lawmakers expressed concerns about a proposal by the Guild of Highway and City Bus Companies in Taiwan to raise bus ticket prices by as much as 30 percent.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lee Kun-tse (李昆澤) said that the problem for bus operators is low passenger volume, which should be boosted by improving transport efficiency and increasing shuttle services, rather than by adjusting ticket prices.
Photo: Tien Yu-hua, Taipei Times
Lee asked whether the government would continue to subsidize highway operators even after they raise ticket prices by 30 percent.
Bus operators had simply presented an increase in operational costs, which does not necessarily translate to an increase in ticket prices, Highway Bureau Director-General Chen Wen-rui (陳文瑞) said.
Members of the review committee would examine 18 cost items that determine ticket prices, Chen said.
Wang said that subsidies were handed out to prevent bus operators from raising ticket prices, as doing so would only further decrease the passenger volume.
“I am leaning toward letting the government absorb the price difference, but their [the guild’s] proposal would have to be examined by the Highway Bureau’s review committee,” Wang said.
Lee said the bus operators’ plan to raise ticket prices is wrong and unreasonable.
In the past month, several traffic accidents involving public buses and tour buses had occurred, such as the collision between a speeding tour bus and a sedan on Saturday, in which four people were killed and 17 were injured in Yunlin County, he said.
Even if the government was to absorb the price difference, it must oversee the safety and performance of bus operators, he said.
“The government must stand on the side of consumers and protect their safety... It must cautiously handle any ticket price adjustments proposed by bus operators,” Lee said.
As for the bus company involved in the fatal accident on Saturday, Chen told Lee that the Highway Bureau has grounded four of its fleet of 102 buses after some problems were identified, and the buses can only resume service after the problems are addressed.
The bus driver was fined NT$90,000 for contravening the Highway Act (公路法) and his license was revoked, Chen said, adding that if the bus company is found to have failed to thoroughly enforce safety measures, up to one-fourth of its bus fleet would be grounded.
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