《TAIPEI TIMES》Taipei station still understaffed

LONG HOURS, LONG LINES: The union’s president said that some of the staff were stuck working 12-hour shifts, as there were 27 fewer employees than it had in 2008

By Ann Maxon / Staff reporter

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The Taiwan Railway Union yesterday said that the Taipei Railway Station is short-staffed, requiring some employees to work up to 12 hours per shift.

“Long lines at the ticket windows are an ongoing problem that has led to a great number of customer complaints and constant overworking of employees,” union president Wang Chieh （王傑） told a news conference in Taipei.

“Often, we have just a half an hour, if any time at all, to eat lunch or dinner, and hardly enough time to take bathroom breaks,” said Wang, who works at the station’s customer service center.

The most overworked staff are those at window 12, where they are responsible for selling time-limited passes, unlocking cards and handling machine repairs, he said.

If one of the two personnel at the window takes time off, the other must work 12 hours straight to cover it, he added.

The station has 161 personnel, which is 27 fewer than it had in 2008, even though the number of passengers passing through the station has grown by 4 million over the past decade, Wang said.

In contrast, personnel at other major stations, such as Shulin （樹林）, Songshan （松山）, Banciao （板橋）, Jhongli （中壢） and Hsinchu （新竹）, have all increased or maintained about the same amount of staff since 2008, he added.

While the Taiwan Railways Administration （TRA） said that it would recruit 18 people next year, that would only fill the vacancies of the 18 people who left earlier this year, he said.

“To ensure that the station can function properly, it would need a total of 215 personnel,” Wang said.

The problem of long lines at the Taipei Railway Station is made worse by poorly designed signs, which are rarely helpful, he said.

Often, foreigners spend 10 to 20 minutes waiting in line before realizing that they are at the wrong window, he said.

At the news conference, New Power Party Chairman Hsu Yung-ming （徐永明） also said that the TRA should hire more people to staff the station.

“It is not that the TRA does not have the money, but that it has been wasting it,” he said. “If it can spend NT$44 billion [US$1.4 billion] to buy new intercity trains [last month], why does it not have the money to hire enough people? We hope the TRA will invest its money in the right place.”

The agency said it completed a personnel review of the Taipei Railway Station on Oct. 25, adding that it promised in a meeting at Hsu’s office on Oct. 31 that 21 new recruits would begin working at the station.

Of the 21 new employees, 11 have started working as apprentices, while the other 10 would begin the apprenticeship program on Dec. 26, the agency said.

In light of the problems caused by the personnel shortage, it said that it would periodically review staffing levels at the station.

The station would adjust job assignments based on changing service demands, it added.

The Taipei Railway Station has been asked to address problems caused by inadequate signage, the agency said, adding that station crew would walk around the station more frequently to offer directions to passengers.

“We will invite experts, as well as advocates for the rights of the disabled, to inspect the station facilities and propose measures to help us improve,” the agency said.

The suggestions would be incorporated into a program designed to improve signage at the station, which would be implemented next year, it added.

Additional reporting by Shelley Shan

新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES