Long-haul bus journeys are to see price hikes as the Highway Bureau yesterday approved a slight increase in calculating the ratio between distance and ticketing.
The hike is mainly due to inflation caused by rising costs of 17 basic items, as the pricing is no longer keeping up with inflation, said the bureau, which is under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Transportation and Communications.
There had been repeated requests from bus companies to adjust ticket prices. They said that the last time the ministry approved a change in pricing on highway travel was in June 2006.
Photo: Taipei Times
Prices would be raised by 1.56 percent per passenger on a four-row seat for an intercity journey, and 6.46 percent for the more spacious three-row seating, the bureau said yesterday.
The bureau said that short intercity journeys, such as from Taipei to Taoyuan, would only see a NT$1 increase for a four-row seat, and NT$3 for the three-row seat, while intercity bus No. 1826 from Taipei to Taichung would see an increase of NT$4 for the four-row seat, and NT$17 for a three-row seat.
The intercity bus No. 1610 from Taipei to Kaohsiung would see an increase of NT$7 for a four-row seat and NT$36 for the three-seat, said Tai Pang-fang (戴邦芳), deputy section head of the bureau’s Transportation Service.
Tsai said the bureau would send official notices on the new rates to all long-haul bus companies operating on the main highways.
The pricing would not affect people using the TPASS, the monthly commuter pass for cities, as the bureau said the new pricing hike would be covered by the TPASS financial support policy of the Executive Yuan.
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