TAIPEI (TVBS News) — The Taiwan Railways Administration (TRA) may not consider the reintroduction of early bird tickets until the occupancy rate for the Tze-Chiang Limited Express returns to at least 70% or reaches a peak of over 80%, according to a TRA official.
Liu Shuang-huo, director of the TRA Transportation Division, said on Sunday (Nov. 5) that early bird tickets could affect the performance of early morning, late-night, and off-peak trains.
According to Liu, passenger volumes were expected to return to pre-COVID-19 levels this year, but they have only reached about 90% of those levels.
The occupancy rate for the Tze-Chiang Limited Express has also remained below pre-pandemic figures, currently at around 61%. Despite introducing new Tze-Chiang EMU3000 express trains over the past few years, customer volume has not fully recovered.
To encourage more passengers to travel, the TRA launched early bird tickets on December 1, 2020, which offered a 20% to 40% discount to passengers who bought tickets for a specific date and train 28 days before their journey, provided the trip was over 70 kilometers.
However, the TRA suspended this policy in September 2022.