eTag Glitches Keep Happening; Hsu Hsu-tung Responds: If You Want to Return It, Return It
eTag Glitches Keep Happening; Hsu Hsu-tung: If You Want to Return It, Return It
Regarding the frequent eTag glitches, Far Eastern Group Chairman Hsu Hsu-tung said yesterday that eTag is the first distance-based toll collection system, "a glorious and happy thing," and that the "proportion" of errors is "very small," so people should not make such a fuss over a not-so-big error.
He also said that if consumers are dissatisfied, they can return it, "but after he returns it, let me ask, how is he going to get on the freeway? Still, if you like to return it, then return it."
Hsu Hsu-tung also apologized four times for the eTag errors, but regarding the fines previously imposed on Far EasTone Transportation by the government, he did not directly respond on whether the fines would be paid in full.
Far Eastern Group's U-Ming Marine Transport held a naming and delivery ceremony for its new freighter "Yuguang" in Shanghai on the 13th. Hsu Hsu-tung took questions from Taiwan media after the signing ceremony. This was his first response to outside criticism after the eTag toll controversy emerged.
Hsu Hsu-tung said, "eTag is a distance-based toll collection system that Taiwan was the first in the world to launch; it is a glorious and happy thing," and the proportion of errors is not large, so it should not have been blown up like this.
He said, "Of course we must work hard, and there should not be any errors; that is absolute. But at the very start, 5.7 million vehicles came onto the road all at once. We originally hoped it would not be so fast and wanted to go step by step, but it was government policy, and we had no choice but to comply."
Reporters pressed Hsu Hsu-tung, "Was the government's decision too fast?" He responded, "I cannot say that either." He repeatedly stressed that the error rate was a few per thousand or a few per ten thousand, "in terms of proportion, it is not big!"
His tone softened as he stressed again that the eTag error rate was not large: "Please, you have to talk about proportion! Have some sympathy for me, all right? Give me a little sympathy and help me out!"