The Taiwan Railway Administration, in order to attract more customers, will soon allow passengers to bring their pets aboard designated "pet cars" starting this summer. As a trial run, the railway will see whether the passenger response is positive. Competing with the newly opened Taiwan High Speed Rail, which is run by another company, the TRA will mirror the bullet train's policy of allowing passengers to bring their "dogs, cats, fish and shrimp as long as they're well packed [and] won't defecate or urinate in the cars," according to the Taiwan's China Post.
Since the opening of the Taiwan High Speed Rail and the expansion of the Taipei-Yilan Freeway, the railway company has seen a decline of 11% in passengers traveling over 200 km. The TRA runs slower local trains that run up the west and east coasts of Taiwan. A high speed train takes roughly 90 minutes to travel from Taipei to Kaohsiung in the south, while the TRA's fastest train, the Tzu-Chiang, winds its way up the western coast taking four hours. TRA tickets, however, cost significantly cheaper than that of the high speed trains, and continue to stop at small towns that bullet trains bypass.
The TRA will further discuss which pets will be allowed to brought onboard and the ticket fares for animals.
