pet connection

I was sitting there stewing about how I might have to refinance my home in order to pay for gas on an upcoming road trip, when I came across this article in the Taipei Times. It reports about how a group of dedicated dog lovers were able to charter a special portion of a train so they could ride with their dogs rather than pack them like luggage into the cargo hold.

The result was called the “Pet Party Express” and it led to plenty of smiles and warm wishes from nearly everyone involved. Here’s how the writer described it:

A group of dog lovers and their pets boarded a train for Hualien yesterday on the country’s first train travel package allowing pet owners to take their furry friends.

The group traveled on an express train from Taipei yesterday in a charter “pet party” carriage for dogs and their owners.

The Taiwan Railways Administration (TRA) launched a three-month trial period on July 1 to allow passengers to bring pets on the trains.

Liu Chu-mei (劉淑美), assistant manager at the Taipei-based travel agency that organized the tour, said the “very important dogs” traveling with the group would not only accompany their owners on the train, but also stay in their owners’ hotel rooms and eat at the same restaurants.

The dog-friendly train cars are equipped with individual ventilation systems and are cleaned extra thoroughly after every run, but otherwise they are pretty much the same as the “human” train cars.

We said earlier that almost everyone was happy about the special puppy car. In fact, someone has already filed a lawsuit.

While pet lovers applauded the policy, some passengers were not happy about the change. One person has filed a lawsuit in an administrative court, arguing that the rights of passengers were being ignored.

Those with health concerns in particular should not be “forced to sit together with pets,” the complainant said.

Let’s see. It’s perfectly OK to sit with coughing, sneezing and wheezing humans, but don’t force us to sit with pets.

With the continued surge in the price of gasoline, it’s only logical to consider trains and buses as resonable alternatives to driving — as long as we can bring our entire family along for the ride.

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