The Far Eastern Electronic Toll Collection Co. (FETC) must improve its service efficiency and attitude and protect the general public's interests, Premier Jiang Yi-huah declared at today's Cabinet meeting.
The premier instructed the Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MOTC) to proactively supervise the FETC's operations to ensure the electronic toll collection (ETC) system for national freeways implemented nationwide last month is stable enough to meet the oncoming challenge of heavy traffic during the Lunar New Year holiday season (the week of January 31).
"The system needs to win the confidence of road users instead of collapsing under the pressure of distrust," he said.
Taiwan is the first nation to replace toll stations imposing uniform rates with an ETC system charging mileage-based fees for all its freeways at once. However, incidents occurring since January 1, including erroneous toll deductions from customers' accounts, crashes of the system's mobile-phone application for checking ETC accounts, and the FETC's slow customer service responses to such issues, have enraged the public and caused them to blame the government for negligence of its duty as a supervisor.
Moreover, a collapse of the mobile-phone application on January 2 which the FETC had blamed on a cyber-attack actually resulted from the system's improper design, an Executive Yuan investigation team confirmed on January 15.
Sternly affirming that the system's unreliability is a very serious matter, the premier requested that the MOTC's Taiwan Area National Freeway Bureau conduct a self-examination of its failure to well supervise the FETC's operations, particularly over the past two weeks, and that the MOTC mete out administrative punishments to keep relevant personnel on the alert.
The ministry must protect the public's rights and interests and demand the FETC fulfill its duties as a party to a build-operate-transfer (BOT) project conceded by the government, especially by improving its service efficiency and attitude, Jiang added.
The premier also expressed hope that all government heads will take lessons from the common principles evident in this case. "Despite being a BOT project in name, the ETC system is a public utility in nature. As such, the government cannot exonerate itself from its supervisory duties. The government is not the front-line service provider, but citizens will hold it responsible for playing the role of supervisor," noted Jiang. He demanded all government agencies to meet the public's expectations by closely monitoring all BOT or outsourced public construction projects.