Taipei Times
Date:  Oct 08, 2015
By: Sean Lin  /  Staff reporter

Amid controversy that EasyCard Corp might have improperly benefited its Kaohsiung counterpart, iPass Corp, Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) yesterday said that a considerable difference in the cost of installing card readers at Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) stations to integrate the two cards stemmed from a difference in the number of gates the two municipalities open to each other.

EasyCard chairman Kenneth Lin (林向愷) during a question-and-answer session with Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Taipei City Councilor Wang Hsiao-wei (王孝維) on Tuesday said that iPass had asked EasyCard to share a disproportionate cost of NT$69.46 million (US$2.11 million) out of a total of about NT$150 million for the installation of value-adding machines and card readers in Kaohsiung’s MRT stations by four firms manufacturing value storage cards.

DPP Taipei City Councilor Hung Chien-yi (洪健益) said EasyCard, in which the Taipei City Government has a 40 percent stake, has been presented with an insulting deal that encroaches on the city government’s rights.     [FULL  STORY]