People aged 70 or older who do not renew their driver’s license would be entitled to a monthly NT$1,500 public transportation and taxi subsidy as part of a program to improve traffic safety, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications said yesterday.
The ministry is to introduce 17 driving reforms next year, including removing true-or-false questions on the written exam for cars and scooters and lowering the age at which elderly people must renew their driver’s license to 70 from 75.
The Highway Bureau would offer preferential rates equivalent to the T-Pass program of 50 percent fares up to a maximum of NT$1,500 per month, the ministry said.
Photo: Huang Hsu-lei, Taipei Times
Services that the program covers includes city buses, intercity buses, Taiwan Railways and light rail trains, MRTs, public bikes, ferries and taxis, it said.
The subsidies are based on similar local government programs for elderly people, the bureau said, adding that they would only be applied if an elderly card is presented.
Eleven of Taiwan’s 22 administrative regions have elderly card systems for taxi fare payments, it said.
Elderly people who do not renew their driver’s license would be able to use the card to pay taxi fares, with the funds deducted from the e-wallet tied to the card, it said.
The subsidies would be available to anyone who registers once the program is launched next year and would be provided for two years, the ministry said.
The subsidies would be issued on top of other social welfare subsidies, Bureau Secretary-General Lin Yi-sheng (林義勝) said.
The bureau is mulling how to provide the new subsidies to residents of regions that do not have an elderly card system, Lin said.
Deputy Minister of Transportation and Communications Chen Yen-po (陳彥伯) said it is possible that the subsidies would be run entirely through the T-Pass program.
Eight Chinese naval vessels and 24 military aircraft were detected crossing the median line of the Taiwan Strait between 6am yesterday and 6am today, the Ministry of National Defense said this morning. The aircraft entered Taiwan’s northern, central, southwestern and eastern air defense identification zones, the ministry said. The armed forces responded with mission aircraft, naval vessels and shore-based missile systems to closely monitor the situation, it added. Eight naval vessels, one official ship and 36 aircraft sorties were spotted in total, the ministry said.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) today said that if South Korea does not reply appropriately to its request to correct Taiwan’s name on its e-Arrival card system before March 31, it would take corresponding measures to alter how South Korea is labeled on the online Taiwan Arrival Card system. South Korea’s e-Arrival card system lists Taiwan as “China (Taiwan)” in the “point of departure” and “next destination” fields. The ministry said that it changed the nationality for South Koreans on Taiwan’s Alien Resident Certificates from “Korea” to “South Korea” on March 1, in a gesture of goodwill and based on the
Taiwanese officials were shown the first of 66 F-16V fighter jets purchased by Taiwan from the United States, the Ministry of National Defense said yesterday, adding the aircraft has completed an initial flight test and is expected to be delivered later this year. A delegation led by Deputy Minister of National Defense Hsu Szu-chien (徐斯儉) visited Lockheed Martin’s F-16 C/D Block 70 (also known as F-16V) assembly line in South Carolina on March 16 to view the aircraft. The jet will undergo a final acceptance flight in the US before being delivered to Taiwan, the
The New Taipei Metro's Sanyin Line and the eastern extension of the Taipei Metro's Tamsui-Xinyi Line (Red Line) are scheduled to begin operations in June, the National Development Council said today. The Red Line, which terminates at Xiangshan Station, would be connected by the 1.4km extension to a new eastern terminal, Guangci/Fengtian Temple Station, while the Sanyin Line would link New Taipei City's Tucheng and Yingge stations via Sanxia District (三峽). The council gave the updates at a council meeting reviewing progress on public construction projects for this year. Taiwan's annual public infrastructure budget would remain at NT$800 billion (US$25.08 billion), with NT$97.3
RSS