Taiwan Railway reports 1.4% rise in average daily passenger volume

Taipei, Dec. 27 (CNA) Despite raising ticket prices in June, state-owned Taiwan Railway Corp. reported on Saturday that average daily passenger volume increased about 1.4 percent from a year earlier from June to December.

In a statement, the company said the number of average daily passengers from June 23-Dec. 19 totaled 652,000, up about 10,000 or 1.4 percent from a year earlier, while ticket revenue rose NT$14.11 million (US$449,044) or 28 percent to NT$64.44 million during the same period.

Taiwan Railway introduced a 26.8 percent fare hike on June 23 for the first time in 30 years in a bid to reduce its operating deficit.

Following the fare hike and passenger volume increase, ticket sales for 2025 will increase by NT$2.6 billion from a year earlier with average daily passenger volume forecast to rise 2.9 percent to almost 670,000, the company said.

Taiwan Railway said it has kept working with the government to promote the regional TPass monthly package and average daily passenger volume under the program rose 26.3 percent from a year earlier to 185,000 from Jan. 1-Dec. 19.

Since its reorganization from the Taiwan Railways Administration, a government agency, into a corporation in January 2024, the state-owned company said, it has intensified efforts to boost its brand value and partnered with the tourism industry to provide a wide range of railway tour packages.

In the first 11 months of this year, Taiwan Railway said its railway tourism operations generated about NT$100 million in revenue, up 15.12 percent from a yea earlier, with sales in 2025 expected to pass NT$120 million.

The company noted that it has also continued to improve safety, as well as its on-time rate and convenience for passengers.

During January-October, Taiwan Railway's on-time rate reached 94.24 percent and the rating continued to improve, hitting 97.5 percent in November, a target set by the company.

From January-November, there were two major accidents, down from four a year earlier, while general accidents fell three to 38 with the number of driving irregularities also down 88 at 759, Taiwan Railway said.