First Review of Railway Law Amendments: Heavier Penalties for Scalping Tickets and Programmatic Booking

▲ Test run of the Puyuma train on the electrified Eastern Line railway. (Photo / Provided by Chen Bingyuan)

Tourism Center / Comprehensive Report

The Legislative Yuan’s Transportation Committee on the 1st preliminarily passed the draft amendment to the Railway Law, increasing penalties for scalping tickets. The fine has been raised from a maximum of NT$1,000 to 1–10 times the ticket price, calculated per ticket, and the use of booking programs to hack into the system can incur a maximum fine of NT$500,000.

After the amendments, it is hoped that the difficulty of securing train tickets during holidays on the Hualien line will be alleviated, and the manipulation of ticket sales by scalper groups that affects the public's rights will be curbed. In particular, computer-based operations involving scalped tickets on lines such as the Hualien-Taitung railway will leave a record that can be handled by internet police.

The preliminary review clauses related to passenger ticket purchasing rights mainly include the following two key points:

Those who resell tickets at inflated prices or exchange them for improper benefits for profit shall be fined between one to ten times the ticket price per ticket sold.

Those who use improper methods to input false information or commands into computers or related equipment to purchase tickets or obtain booking or collection vouchers may be fined between NT$50,000 and NT$500,000.