Taipei City Mayor Hau Lung-bin （郝龍斌） apologized on Sunday to those who were left stranded in mid-air for more than an hour on the newly inaugurated Maokong Gondola on Saturday afternoon. Hau also made public a list of seven officials who will be punished as a result of the incident, including Secretariat Deputy Director Yang Hsi-an.The Maokong cable car system in Muzha broke down at around 4:50 p.m. Saturday, just as the city was beset by a record-high temperature of 38 degrees Celsius. It took operators almost two hours to help 323 passengers stranded in 57 gondolas to alight. The last passenger got off safely at 6:55 p.m.

Taipei Rapid Transit Corporation suspended all Saturday evening service. Service was resumed on Sunday at noon.

During a press conference held on Sunday afternoon, Hau offered his apologies to those who were trapped in the cable cars during the incident. "A preliminary investigation showed that the breakdown of the cable car service was caused by inadequate tire pressure," Hau said, adding that city government officials held a meeting about the incident until 3 a.m. Sunday.

Hau told reporters that the staff from Shih-Hsi, the consulting firm in charge of overseeing the cable car construction, had informed the contractor and the French company responsible for the construction of the skyrail, POMA, when it noticed unusual noises at a corner station at around 11 a.m. However, neither POMA nor the contractor responded to the inquiry, Hau said, adding that the city government would get to the bottom of the problem to see if the two companies staff should receive punishment.

Yang, who was among seven of the punished officials, admitted that the contracting company and the TRTC had argued for nearly 20 minutes on whether to first fix the cable car or to evacuate trapped passengers after the incident occurred. He noted that he should be punished because he did not order the evacuation of the passengers first.

Some of the officials who will be punished include Public Works Department Director Lee Ssu-chuan, Maokong Public Affairs Director Chen Shih-chieh, and three other officials from the TRTC.

The city government said that it would give passengers who were trapped in the gondola two free gondola tickets, two free MRT tickets, and a souvenir set that was distributed by the TRTC.

But the Consumers Foundation said that the compensation was unreasonable. It urged the city government to carefully examine the safety of the gondola before it resumes service again.