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.
DEEPER REVIEW: After receiving 19 hospital reports of suspected food poisoning, the Taipei Department of Health applied for an epidemiological investigation A buffet restaurant in Taipei’s Xinyi District (信義) is to be fined NT$3 million (US$91,233) after it remained opened despite an order to suspend operations following reports that 32 people had been treated for suspected food poisoning, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. The health department said it on Tuesday received reports from hospitals of people who had suspected food poisoning symptoms, including nausea, vomiting, stomach pain and diarrhea, after they ate at an INPARADISE (饗饗) branch in Breeze Xinyi on Sunday and Monday. As more than six people who ate at the restaurant sought medical treatment, the department ordered the
A strong continental cold air mass and abundant moisture bringing snow to mountains 3,000m and higher over the past few days are a reminder that more than 60 years ago Taiwan had an outdoor ski resort that gradually disappeared in part due to climate change. On Oct. 24, 2021, the National Development Council posted a series of photographs on Facebook recounting the days when Taiwan had a ski resort on Hehuanshan (合歡山) in Nantou County. More than 60 years ago, when developing a branch of the Central Cross-Island Highway, the government discovered that Hehuanshan, with an elevation of more than 3,100m,
Taiwan’s population last year shrank further and births continued to decline to a yearly low, the Ministry of the Interior announced today. The ministry published the 2024 population demographics statistics, highlighting record lows in births and bringing attention to Taiwan’s aging population. The nation’s population last year stood at 23,400,220, a decrease of 20,222 individuals compared to 2023. Last year, there were 134,856 births, representing a crude birth rate of 5.76 per 1,000 people, a slight decline from 2023’s 135,571 births and 5.81 crude birth rate. This decrease of 715 births resulted in a new record low per the ministry’s data. Since 2016, which saw
SECURITY: To protect the nation’s Internet cables, the navy should use buoys marking waters within 50m of them as a restricted zone, a former navy squadron commander said A Chinese cargo ship repeatedly intruded into Taiwan’s contiguous and sovereign waters for three months before allegedly damaging an undersea Internet cable off Kaohsiung, a Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times) investigation revealed. Using publicly available information, the Liberty Times was able to reconstruct the Shunxing-39’s movements near Taiwan since Double Ten National Day last year. Taiwanese officials did not respond to the freighter’s intrusions until Friday last week, when the ship, registered in Cameroon and Tanzania, turned off its automatic identification system shortly before damage was inflicted to a key cable linking Taiwan to the rest of
RSS