People who use stored-value cards to pay for rides on Kaohsiung’s metro and light-rail services from next month would no longer enjoy a 15 percent fare discount, Kaohsiung Rapid Transit Corp said in a statement on Friday.
The company, which operates both services in Kaohsiung, said it discontinued the 15 percent discount introduced in 2008 because of rising costs from electricity rate hikes, increases in the minimum wage and inflation.
The discount was introduced during the Kaohsiung Metro’s first year of operations to encourage people to use stored-value cards, such as iPass and EasyCard, the firm said, adding that 96 percent of passengers have gone cashless.
Photo: CNA
However, the 15 percent discount has cost the company about NT$2.4 billion (US$74.83 million) since 2008, it said.
The move to end the discount would have little impact on commuters, because most of them use the TPass for discounted fares on Kaohsiung Metro, buses and trains, the company said.
Kaohsiung Metro’s fares have remained unchanged since the launch of the city’s first line, despite inflation, electricity rate hikes and increases in the minimum wage over the past 16 years, it said.
Electricity rates increased 15 percent in 2022, 17 percent last year, 14 percent in April and 14 percent this month, according to the company, which estimates the hikes and its decision to provide all-day air-conditioning would add NT$190 million to its electricity bill for next year.
The company said it began providing all-day air-conditioning in underground stations from June 30 in response to a rebound in ridership following the COVID-19 pandemic.
Last year, Kaohsiung Rapid Transit Corp posted a net loss of NT$51.395 million, despite a 42.3 percent year-on-year surge in ticket income, according to a financial report on the company’s Web site.
Kaohsiung’s metro services last month posted an average daily ridership of 180,734, up 20.67 percent from a year earlier, company data showed.
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