FREEWAY BUS TICKET PRICES RISE THROUGH DISCOUNT ELIMINATION|國道客運三月齊漲 統聯台北-台南漲68%

Price rises for freeway passenger transport have already been frozen twice this year. Now these will be raised in March. Five companies have decided to raise prices. The three other companies have not decided when they will raise ticket prices. Ubus has the largest price rise on its Taipei to Tainan route, by almost 70 percent, but in fact, its raise is mostly due to ending discounts. The freeway passenger transport service industry will raise prices from March. The Directorate General of Highways confirmed that eight such companies have completed the process for applying for price rises and five of these will implement rises from March. Keelung Bus will raise prices on two of its freeway routes. Kamalan Bus Inc.'s full ticket from Taipei to Luodong will rise from NT$135 to NT$141. Ubus' Taipei to Kaohsiung will rise from NT$530 to NT$580. Solar Bus' full ticket from Taipei to Beigang will be NT$420. Capital Bus' Taipei to Yilan full ticket will be NT$128. ==LIANG KUO-KUO Dep. Exec.-Sec. DGH Transport Management Center== Rises are from 3 percent to around 68 percent, they don't, in fact, go over the government's set prices. Kuo-Kuang Motor Transport and Ho Hsin have not yet decided when their prices will rise. Aloha will evaluate whether or not to raise their prices. At the beginning of the year, the freeway passenger transport services planned to raise ticket prices as their outlay had risen. However, the DGH requested that they wait until after the Lunar New Year holiday, but then with the 228 holiday coming up, it froze their price rises again. Now all will raise prices in March. ==MEMBER OF THE PUBLIC== It's not only tickets prices that are rising, the price of everything is going up. ==MEMBER OF THE PUBLIC== Going up a bit is ok, not too much, though, otherwise, everyone will be under more pressure. Privately, freeway passenger transport services say that it's hard for them to get by and in the past, they offered discount to comply with government policy. Now that discounts have shrunk, it is seen as a rise, but in fact, the prices do not reflect the capital outlay. Added to this the new labor law amendment makes solving shift work issues difficult so that they will have to evaluate cutting services at off-peak hours. TRANSLATED BY：CLARE LEAR 今年兩度凍漲的國道客運，將在三月起陸續調整價格，其中五家確定在三月初調漲，另外三家時間未定，漲最多的是統聯台北到台南，漲幅將近7成，不過公路總局強調，所謂的"調漲" ，其實是"減少優惠"。 國道客運業者三月起將陸續調漲價格，公路總局證實，有八家業者已經完成票價調整程序，其中五家確定在三月初調漲，包括基隆客運的兩條國道路線，以及 葛瑪蘭客運，以台北到羅東的全票為例，票價由135元調漲141元，統聯客運台北到高雄原價時段、從530元調漲為580元，日統客運從台北到北港全票420元，首都客運台北到宜蘭全票調漲後128元。 ==公路總局運管中心副執行秘書 梁郭國== （漲幅)從3%到68%左右 事實上它是沒有超過我們政府 超過這個(核定)運價 至於國光客運、和欣客運漲價日期未定案，阿羅哈客運則將評估是否調漲。其實國道客運業者今年一開年就因為成本增加，計畫調整運價，但被公路總局要求農曆春節後再漲，接下來又遇到228連續假期，又凍漲，兩度凍漲後，三月起才確定陸續漲價。 ==民眾== 又不是只有這個漲 全部都在漲 ==民眾== 漲一點點沒關係 不要太多啦 太多大家都 一定都負擔比較大 國道業者則私下叫苦，認為過去只是因為配合政府政策，推出票價優惠，現在優惠縮減，就被認為是漲價，其實根本還沒能完全反映成本，加上一例一休排班問題難解，將評估在離峰時段減班。 薛宜家 林志堅 台北報導