Formosensis train completes first test run

Formosensis train completes first test run

2023-03-20

After two years and nine months of construction, the Formosensis train went on its first test run on Monday. There was a big buzz at the train station, as railway fans rushed to take pictures.

The Formosensis has six carriages, each with 18 seats. The new train has big windows, leather seats, and storage tables. It’s lined with domestically harvested cypress wood, and has a look of comfort and elegance. In addition, damping devices have been added to the mechanical structure to make the ride smoother. Test runs are expected to be completed in June. The train will enter service on the Alishan railway in the second half of the year.

全新檜木車廂"福森號"首試車鐵道迷聚集搶拍

2023-03-20

林鐵處費時2年9個月，打造的全新檜木車廂「福森號」，週一首度進行試車，吸引不少鐵路迷搶拍。

「福森號」一共有6節車廂，每節18個座位，比起舊的「中興號」，窗戶更大片，板皮也更寬，內裝採用皮革座椅，還有置物桌，整體感覺更高雅舒適。不只如此，機械結構部份也加裝了阻尼器，讓小火車行駛更加平穩。預計六月完成試車，下半年度就能夠開放讓民眾搭乘。

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Former President Ma to visit China in late March

The Ma Ying-jeou Foundation on Monday announced that former President Ma Ying-jeou will be visiting China later this month. The purpose of the visit is for Ma to pay respects to his ancestors in the city of Changsha. The foundation says Ma is not scheduled to meet with any Chinese officials. Instead, he’ll be leading a delegation of young academics to carry out exchanges with Chinese students. The itinerary features many stops at sites memorializing the victims of the Second Sino-Japanese War.

Former President Ma Ying-jeou is going abroad. His destination: China.

Hsiao Hsu-tsen
Ma Ying-jeou Foundation
Former President Ma will be going to mainland China to pay respects to his ancestors from March 27 to April 7. He will also be leading a delegation of young scholars.

Ma will be the first former president of Taiwan to visit China since the relocation of the R.O.C. government to Taiwan in 1949.

Hsiao Hsu-tsen
Ma Ying-jeou Foundation
Former President Chen and President Tsai have all gone before. But President Ma has never been to the mainland. He is now in his 70s, and COVID travel restrictions have been lifted. So considering that, and the importance of funerary rites in Chinese culture, he should be allowed to go to the mainland to worship his ancestors, to show his filial piety. I think this is something that Taiwanese people would agree with.

Ma will travel with his four sisters and about 30 young academics.

According to the itinerary released by the Ma Ying-jeou Foundation, Ma will set off for Shanghai on March 27 and take the high speed rail to Nanjing. There he will visit Dr. Sun Yat-sen’s Mausoleum on the 28th, and a memorial hall for the victims of the Nanjing Massacre. Ma will also go Wuhan to visit a memorial for the Wuchang Uprising and hold a seminar with students at Wuhan University. He’s scheduled to go to his ancestral home, Changsha, on April 1. On April 3, he’s set to visit a war museum in Chongqing. Then it’s back to Shanghai on April 6, where he’ll sit with students from Fudan University and visit the Sihang Warehouse, a former wartime battleground. Ma’s schedule is packed with engagements with students as well as sites related to China’s resistance of Japanese troops in World War II.

Hsiao Hsu-tsen
Ma Ying-jeou Foundation
Getting young people on both sides of the strait to know each other and have deep exchanges is better than buying more weapons. The visits to war sites is to remind our young friends to not forget the war tragedies that occurred then, to treasure this hard-won cross-strait peace.

Back in 2015, Ma sat with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Singapore. Ma’s spokesperson says there is no second meeting with Xi on the schedule.

Hsiao Hsu-tsen
Ma Ying-jeou Foundation
This trip is just for Ma to go to the mainland and pay respects to his ancestors. So the itinerary is all in central China, with no plans to go to Beijing. What level officials will he meet? They are guests there, so they’ll abide by the arrangements of the hosts.

The spokesperson says the trip is just for Ma to visit his roots. But some observers are skeptical, saying the trip overlaps with President Tsai Ing-wen’s visit to Central American allies in March and April, which includes a transit in the U.S.

Hsiao Hsu-tsen
Ma Ying-jeou Foundation
We’ve been planning this trip since before the Lunar New Year. We did not know that President Tsai was going to travel to the U.S. It’s just a coincidence.

Chen Li-fu
Taiwan Association of University Professors
Ma Ying-jeou is marking another personal milestone, he loves being the first one to do things. The international community is gradually becoming aware that Xi Jinping is using military force to harm the people of Taiwan. But Xi Jinping says that he isn’t, that he’s being good to Taiwan. And then Ma Ying-jeou comes up to endorse that narrative, whitewashing the aggression.

According to the Classified National Security Information Protection Act, retired presidents and vice presidents require the approval from the incumbent president to visit China in the five years after their retirement. For Ma, that rule expired on May 20, 2021. But other rules still apply, and he is required to report the visit and to present the relevant documentation before and after the trip.

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Registration for NT$6,000 cash handouts to start Wednesday

NT$6,000 cash handouts from last year’s tax surplus are about to roll out. In a Monday press conference, the finance ministry said the first handouts could be distributed as early as April 6. The window to collect them will be open for at least six months. Registration for direct bank transfers will open this Wednesday. More collection methods such as via ATMs will be introduced starting April 10.

Juan Ching-hwa
Deputy finance minister
There will be at least six months of time. More than six months. So there is no need to rush. If it were me, I would wait until nobody is collecting the handouts to go pick mine up. I assure you it will only take a few seconds.

Deputy finance minister Juan Ching-hwa says there is no need to rush to register for the NT$6,000 handouts. In the first few days, registration will be limited based on the last digit of the applicant’s ID or ARC. Starting March 22, registration will open for numbers ending in 0 and 1, with the following four days open to different sets of numbers. After March 27, registration will open to everyone.

Juan Ching-hwa
Deputy finance minister
The biggest problem right now is that the budget hasn’t been approved yet. So I can’t tell you exactly which day the money will be handed out. The handouts can be given out five working days after the budget enters effect.

The budget is expected to pass its third reading in the Legislative Yuan on Friday. On Saturday, it will be sent to the Presidential Office for a signature, and enter effect on Monday. Then, five working days will be needed to process the required banking procedures. If all goes smoothly, the NT$6,000 handouts will start going out after the Qingming Festival long weekend, on April 6.

There are other ways to receive the handout besides a bank transfer. The money can also be collected at some 26,000 ATMs from 13 financial institutions. Another option is to take your NHI card to collect the cash from a post office. The handouts can also be collected on behalf of family and friends.

Chi Wen-jong
Deputy transport minister
From April 10, the ATM services will go live. And from April 17, the handouts can be collected as cash at post offices.

Lee Huai-jen
Deputy digital minister
You most likely won’t be able to change the collection method after you’ve registered. Once you’re registered, you can’t collect the handout via other channels. If you try to do that, the system will lock you out.

People who have previously collected labor insurance or national pensions will get the money transferred straight to their accounts. In remote communities, police stations will distribute the handouts. Eligible groups include Taiwan nationals, resident spouses of Taiwanese nationals and foreign nationals with permanent residency.

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Sea change in the arcade business: large chains dangle snacks and everyday items

There’s a sea change underway in the arcade business. Traditionally, Taiwanese arcades were individual businesses. Sometimes a single claw machine was the whole venture. Now, much larger chains of giant arcades are gaining ground. They don’t necessarily lure consumers in with toys. Instead, they dangle snacks and everyday items. We spoke to a business expert to find out more about the trend. He says it’s an import from Japan, where arcades full of everyday items have become big business.

A visitor changes a bill for a handful of coins, and prepares to attack the claw machine. But this arcade is not touting plushies or plastic toys.

These baskets full of winnings overflow with candy, crackers, and drinks.

Just push in a coin to give it a try. Consumers keep coming back for more! Drinks and Ferrero Rocher are the simplest prizes to win. This “one-star” difficulty level is achievable even for kids, claims the arcade.

But more stars means more difficulty. This well-practiced expert is going for a five-star household item.

Lee Shih-chen
Business administration and finance expert
When there’s a tiny element of gambling, I want to keep refining my skill or challenging myself, and I give it another try. Can I get the one-star? The two-star? The three-star? It goes up and up. Psychologically, we enjoy it and we want to challenge ourselves, and we’re not bothered about whether we got the prize or not, or how many prizes we got.

The arcade employs more than a dozen part-time workers. They constantly rotate the locations and numbers of the prizes in this arcade of almost 100 ping. There are more than 80 machines here, and 90% contain snacks. There’s a parking lot in the basement, so no need to fear how consumers will cart away their mountains of winnings. The chain arcade has almost 10 locations nationwide, and at weekends, they’re full to bursting.

Lee Shih-chen
Business administration and finance expert
An arcade used to be able to operate as a single location, or a single machine. But now I want more, and in that case I need lots of stock. If I have lots of stock, I can push down the costs. Eighty percent of consumers are just coming to have fun. Twenty percent are more about the skills. You balance them, and then expand the locations, and then more people will come in. Then of course economies of scale start to appear.

In the old days, a claw machine with toys inside was enough of an excitement. Now that the scale has ramped up, consumers can be kept entertained for longer by a wide choice of machines, as this large-scale arcade format becomes the norm.

2023-03-20

Clinics, schools adjust as Taiwan lifts self-isolation requirement for mild cases

Mild COVID cases are exempt from self-isolation, starting Monday. Employees and students can still take leave with proof of a positive COVID test. At one primary school in Taipei, parents had fears that infection would spread faster under the new policy. School administrators advise those who test positive to still stay home and rest. ##

Taiwan has ended mandatory self-isolation for mild COVID cases. But students who test positive can still take leave, without being marked absent or having their grades affected. Parents can also take pandemic care leave.

Parent
There might be a positive COVID case that others are unaware of. Without a mask on, it’s easier to spread the infection.

Parent
Of course we still worry. It’s more dangerous for the children when they’re not wearing masks.

These parents have qualms about their kids going mask-free. Even under the new policy, if sick teachers can’t work from home, they’re still able to take sick leave. With parents anxious over Taiwan’s policy change, one Taipei school still wants positive COVID cases to stay home.

Shih Fu-i
Guangfu Elementary School teacher
If I don’t have any obvious symptoms, I might still choose to come to work. However, if I have more obvious symptoms like a fever or a cough, I will take leave and stay home.

Lai Chun-hsien
Guangfu Elementary School principal
They should rest at home if they can.

The school says that students who do attend class won’t be seated apart, to prevent flagging them as a positive case. With the policy change, isolation and case reporting are no longer required. Once again, COVID patients can receive in-person medical treatment.

Benches are placed outside the clinic. Patients with symptoms are sent to this area, and doctors step out to provide care.

Chou Tzung-han
Traditional Chinese medicine physician
Actually most clinics have this sort of arrangement for patient flow. Some clinics are diagnosing and treating patients outdoors. With the pandemic subsiding, such arrangements will gradually be phased out.

Taiwan’s COVID rules are easing, with case reporting, notification, and follow-up protocols lifted for all mild cases on Monday. However, provisions on free COVID medication and hospitalization will stay unchanged.

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Coach industry in labor crisis, struggling to attract talent

The coach industry is facing a labor crisis. The industry is struggling to attract talent. Many students who learn how to drive a large vehicle decide not to enter the industry. Tour coaches also face legislation that exacerbates the shortage of drivers. Now, the government is dangling subsidies in front of drivers who stay with the job, and relaxing rules on the age at which drivers must retire. But experts say it’s not enough.

He hops on his tour bus, ready for work. By law, journeys lasting over 11 hours require two drivers onboard. But with a serious labor shortage, this driver says he’s been forced to change his schedule, and drive shorter trips.

Chuang Chih-chieh
Tour coach driver
One in five coaches doesn’t have a driver, that’s the situation we’re in. A one-day tour has become two days, two days have become three days. It’s significantly raised the costs for our consumers, and also for us as businesses. And it means that customers are less interested in booking coaches.

Statistics show that the number of working coach drivers fell 20% from 2019 to 2022, from approximately 5,300 to 4,300. A new talent-retention subsidy from the Directorate General of Highways gave financial support to almost 500 coach drivers last year. But experts say the industry still faces a shortfall of thousands of drivers.

Lin Cheh-yung
Coach driving school trainer
I think more people are training to get a coach driving license, but it’s possible that only a few of them actually use that license professionally. As soon as they hear how long the hours are, they all want to beat a retreat.

Truck driving student
Driving coaches is more tiring. Driving a truck, it doesn’t matter if the goods get damaged. And the salary for truck drivers is higher.

At this coach driving school, leaflets advertise jobs at a wide range of coach companies. But few students decide to enter the industry. To fill the gap, the transport ministry now allows retired drivers aged 65 to 68 to drive shuttle buses. But operators say the only way to solve the shortage is to also allow them to drive tour buses.

2023-03-20