even proactively asking passengers if visible food items are finished. Train attendants offer bento boxes, drinks, souvenirs, and Sun Cakes (traditional gifts for visiting friends) from small carts. Ticketing TRA's tickets were printed on traditional Edmondson presses until Japan's NEC supplied a computerized ticketing and reservation system in the late 1980s. Almost all stations are divided into paid (platform) and unpaid (waiting room) areas. Normally, ticket examiners govern platform access, checking and punching tickets as passengers enter. Conductors perform onboard ticket checks near peak load points or every ~100 miles, verifying that passengers hold train-class appropriate tickets, and dispense step-up and zone extension fares from portable ticket printers. Examiners also control access to unpaid areas at destinations, ensuring all passengers paid full distance-based fares. Used tickets are collected and not returned to passengers unless cancelled by stamps (similar to postmarks). Those arriving without appropriate tickets (i.e. requiring "fare adjustments") are assessed 50% penalties, giving passengers incentives to find conductors on board to purchase step-up fares. Tickets are validated at origin, destination, and sometimes en route; evasion thus would require elaborate two-ticket schemes or exiting from paid area without going through fare control. Fare evasion rates are thought to be low. Proof-of-payment methods are not used. Fare structure TRA's passenger fares are highly regulated and strictly distance/train-class based (short trips <6.3 miles require 34~73 cents minimum fare.) Express fares are 11.7 cents (per passenger-mile); locals are 5.5 cents. Within Taipei municipal zone, single trips are 58 cents regardless of distance/class. Unlike HSR, no time- or demand-based off-peak discounts are offered. Periodic (limited-ride) commutation tickets and multi-ride carnets are available. Fares are generally competitive with private commuter and intercity buses. Express trains operate with higher load factors and are more profitable. Fare validation Fare validation requires substantial infrastructure (paid/unpaid areas), labour-intensive manual ticket examinations, and consequent speed-accuracy trade-offs. During the 2000s, TRA incrementally replaced older thermal ticket printers with automated fare collection (AFC) devices using magnetic-backed stock. Busy stations have faregates to speed up validation. Tickets can be inserted in any orientation. Gates align, check, and mechanically punch tickets prior to opening. Validations are fast and can be "pipelined" or "stacked" (i.e. following passenger can insert ticket while previous passenger is proceeding through the gate). Passenger counting sensors quickly close gates when as many passengers entered as valid tickets processed. When exiting, faregates collect and cancel single trip tickets. However, many locations