TPass customers can expect cash rebates to be credited on May 25 after a three-month delay caused by a stalled central government budget in the Legislative Yuan, Minister of Transportation and Communications Chen Shih-kai (陳世凱) told lawmakers in Taipei yesterday.
About NT$27.04 million (US$858,740) in rebates would be distributed once local governments submit applications for funding to the Highway Bureau, Chen told reporters before a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee.
Yesterday, the legislature passed a motion to mobilize NT$71.8 billion of the delayed budget for 38 projects, including funding for the TPass public transport program.
Photo: Tien Yu-hua, Taipei Times
Bureau data showed that NT$8,542,378 in reimbursements is owed to 79,098 customers for January, NT$6,848,599 to 89,602 customers for February and NT$11,647,465 million to 91,905 customers for March.
Under the TPass program, people can purchase regional public transit passes for 30 days, loaded onto standard cards such as EasyCard, iPASS or icash.
The TPass gives users unlimited rides on the MRT, Taiwan Railways, city and intercity buses, light rail and shared public bicycles within designated geographic zones.
Also at the meeting, former Taipei deputy mayor Lee Shu-chuan (李四川), the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) mayoral candidate for New Taipei City, proposed incorporating high-speed rail (HSR) tickets into the TPass program using a surcharge system.
Chen said that the HSR system has a different role and function from the services offered under TPass.
The HSR is already crowded in terms of capacity and ridership, he said, adding that the ministry has not yet discussed the issue.
A magnitude 6.1 earthquake struck off the coast of Yilan County at 8:39pm tonight, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, with no immediate reports of damage or injuries. The epicenter was 38.7km east-northeast of Yilan County Hall at a focal depth of 98.3km, the CWA’s Seismological Center said. The quake’s maximum intensity, which gauges the actual physical effect of a seismic event, was a level 4 on Taiwan’s 7-tier intensity scale, the center said. That intensity level was recorded in Yilan County’s Nanao Township (南澳), Hsinchu County’s Guansi Township (關西), Nantou County’s Hehuanshan (合歡山) and Hualien County’s Yanliao (鹽寮). An intensity of 3 was
Instead of focusing solely on the threat of a full-scale military invasion, the US and its allies must prepare for a potential Chinese “quarantine” of Taiwan enforced through customs inspections, Stanford University Hoover fellow Eyck Freymann said in a Foreign Affairs article published on Wednesday. China could use various “gray zone” tactics in “reconfiguring the regional and ultimately the global economic order without a war,” said Freymann, who is also a nonresident research fellow at the US Naval War College. China might seize control of Taiwan’s links to the outside world by requiring all flights and ships entering or leaving Taiwan
The next minimum wage hike is expected to exceed NT$30,000, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday during an award ceremony honoring “model workers,” including migrant workers, at the Presidential Office ahead of Workers’ Day today. Lai said he wished to thank the awardees on behalf of the nation and extend his most sincere respect for their hard work, on which Taiwan’s prosperity has been built. Lai specifically thanked 10 migrant workers selected for the award, saying that although they left their home countries to further their own goals, their efforts have benefited Taiwan as well. The nation’s industrial sector and small businesses lay
Quarantine awareness posters at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport have gone viral for their use of wordplay. Issued by the airport branch of the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency, the posters feature sniffer dogs making a range of facial expressions, paired with advisory messages built around homophones. “We update the messages for holidays and campaign needs, periodically refreshing materials to attract people’s attention,” quarantine officials said. “The aim is to use the dogs’ appeal to draw focus to quarantine regulations.” A Japanese traveler visiting Taiwan has posted a photo on X of a poster showing a quarantine dog with a
RSS