Kuo-Kuang bus to make final trip in 6 southern routes on Saturday

Taipei, Aug. 30 (CNA) Taiwan's affordable long-haul bus service company Kuo-Kuang Motor Transport will be taking a bow from six routes in southern Taiwan at the end of Saturday.

The company will be making a final trip between Kaohsiung and Kenting in three routes, and a last bus from Kaohsiung to Pingtung County.

Specifically, Kuo-Kuang will end its 9127 service from Kaohsiung's Zili Bus Station to Pingtung County's Dapeng Bay at the end of Saturday.

The company will also terminate its 9117 bus between Zili Station and Kenting's Small Beach, its 9189 bus between the Zuoying High Speed Rail Station and Small Beach, as well as its 9188 bus between Zili Station and Kenting's Cape Eluanbi.

After Saturday, the services of the four routes will be shared between the Ping Tung Bus Co. and the Kaohsiung Bus Co.

Besides the aforementioned routes, Kuo-Kuang will also cease operations of its 1773 route to and from the Pingtung Bus Station and Hengchun Bus Station, as well as its 1780 route to and from the Pingtung Bus Station and Pingtung's Fangliao Township.

The Ping Tung Bus Co. will take over operations of the two lines, according to Kuo-Kuang.

On the new operators of the lines, Kuo-Kuang assured prospective passengers and longtime commuters that the service quality of the routes will continue.

The schedules of the services will also remain unchanged, the company said, adding that future alterations will be announced at bus stations, the official websites of the bus companies, and bus schedules sites like iBus.

To commemorate the conclusion of the six routes, Kuo-Kuang General Manager Ren Ji-nan (任季男) told CNA that the company has prepared 300 EasyCards to be given out as souvenirs by either station masters or drivers of the final buses on a given line.

Additionally, the final buses will also have digital signage displayed to announce the services' final trips.

In press notices issued throughout the year, Kuo-Kuang announced its intention to cease operations on a number of routes due to prolonged financial losses.

With sedans becoming commonplace among Taiwan's residents and the competition brought by commuting services like Taiwan Railway and Taiwan High Speed Rail, the operation of the long-haul bus company has proven to be quite a challenge, Kuo-Kuang said.

The company went on to reveal that after paying back its bank loans, the company is still over NT$2 billion (US$65 million) in debt.

As a result, Kuo-Kuang applied to stop servicing 14 routes that have contributed to the company's continued financial losses, estimated at almost NT$190 million every year combined.

While Taiwan's Highway Bureau had approved of Kuo-Kuang's decision to step away from the six southern Taiwan routes, effective Sunday, the bureau said the future of the other eight services the bus company intended to terminate should be announced by Tuesday.