Taoyuan MRT Green Line Gets the Green Light

From Taoyuan County's Bureau of Transportation

The planned Green Line of the Taoyuan MRT was approved by the Environmental Protection Administration this past week, paving the way for its construction to begin next year, for completion in 2021 at the earliest. The Green Line, also called the Aerotropolis Line, will run roughly perpendicular to the TRA's Main Line, linking Dayuan, Luzhu, Taoyuan City, Bade and the planned Aerotropolis development near Taoyuan Airport. It will connect with the Airport Line as well as the TRA at Taoyuan Station. It will be 27.8km long with 21 stations and cost NT$98.9 billion ($US3.3 billion) to build (US$118.7 million/km), 35% of which will be paid by the central government, with the rest covered by the county and paid for through operational profit and returns on land acquired through eminent domain. The Taoyuan County government estimates it will ridden about 200,000 times daily (some reports claim 500,000 but this seems unrealistic).
To get the plan passed the Taoyuan County government promised to decrease the amount of public land it would appropriate around three stations by 95%, effecting only 7 residences of the 147 in the original plan. This would leave one station, at the intersection of Zhongzheng and Minguang Roads, without any exits, though the county still plans to build the station in the hope that further discussions with property owners will lead to a breakthrough. (They claim it would be used by 20,000 commuters a day- between 10 and 15 million exits and entrances a year). The government also promised to use the same strict standards when appropriating land for stations within the Aerotropolis, and to take steps to protect nearby historic sites and to minimize traffic disruption.
In terms of building a mass transit network in Taoyuan this line makes a lot of sense- it follows the most built-up corridor in Taoyuan County, complements the TRA and will improve mass transit for the most people in the most efficient way possible. Furthermore, unlike in Taichung and Kaohsiung, Taoyuan residents already have a propensity to use mass transit- in fact Taoyuan's mass transit mode share is higher than either despite not having any MRT lines. I think this is less because of "habit" and more because of the narrow, unplanned streets that make driving difficult, in addition to large numbers of people who commute to Taipei, which for many people is probably cheaper and easier to do by mass transit than by driving.
It's also good to see that the government is being more respectful of people's property rights, though it's hard to tell if this one case really means anything. Also, because the MRT line is a public service that can't be relocated or built by the private sector alone this is a situation where eminent domain is more forgivable, in contrast to eminent domain for the sake of development, such as with the Aerotropolis.
Finally, this is the first time that I know of that an MRT line has been build under a narrow street in Taiwan, and I'm curious to see how it will turn out. As you can see from the image below, at the intersection where there will be a station with no exits, building exits will be impossible without taking private land. I hope they replace the parking space with some sidewalks though:


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New Details on the Direct Taipei-Yilan Rail Line

From the MOTC's Railway Reconstruction Bureau

The Ministry of Transportation's Railway Reconstruction Bureau recently held a public meeting about possible routes for a more direct railway line between Taipei and Yilan.  There are two proposals: a shorter route that would roughly parallel National Highway 5, and a longer one that would cross under Pingxi and meet the current Yilan Line at Shuangxi, before turning south and merging with the Yilan Line just north of Daxi.  This route would include a station at Shuangxi to allow transfers to the Yilan Line.  Because the Taipei City government is opposed to the first option because it would cross through the Feicui Reservoir watershed, the second, longer route is more likely to be chosen.  This route would cost NT$49.1 billion (US$1.6 billion) to construct, an average of US$30.2 million a kilometer.  Taroko or Puyuma express trains would be 18 minutes faster, taking as little as 45 minutes to get from Taipei to Jiaoxi, while conventional Tse-Chiang trains could save 38 minutes, shortening trips to as little as 50 minutes.  Once the new line is complete the old line would remain in service.  The earliest possible date for completion is 2031, and construction is expected to take 9 years.
Support for the line is far from unanimous.  It would still cross through reservoir catchment areas, and near many old mine shafts.  Environmentalists worry that it will damage relatively untouched ecosystems.  At least one legislator thinks 18 minutes isn't worth nearly NT$50 billion, and that money would be better spent upgrading the TRA.
Some of these fears are certainly overblown- presumably this wouldn't be the world's first rail line built around old mine shafts.  The key questions should be will the environmental benefit of fewer people driving be worth the damage caused by its construction, and will the line earn enough money to justify its cost.  Though this line might save "only" 18 minutes, that should be enough to draw many people out of cars and planes and onto trains, boosting the TRA's revenue and cutting down carbon dioxide emissions.  It could also obviate the need for future road and highway expansion.  There's no way of knowing unless the government does a more complete study.

Taipei MRT Ridership by Station in 2013

Below is a list of the most heavily used MRT stations in Taipei in 2013, by the total number of boardings and alightings at each station.  The data comes from the Taipei Department of Transportation.

Station	Line	Exits+Entrances
Taipei Main Station	Danshui, Bannan	114,065,000
Taipei City Hall	Bannan	47,641,000
Ximen	Bannan, Xiaonanmen	43,468,000
Zhongxiao Fuxing	Bannan, Wenhu	38,390,000
Zhongxiao Dunhua	Bannan	29,524,000
Danshui	Danshui	29,037,000
Xinpu	Bannan	26,768,000
Banqiao	Bannan	25,420,000
Jiantan	Danshui	25,387,000
Dingxi	Zhonghe-Xinlu	22,743,000

The top seven stations remain the same as in 2012, but there's been some movement among the bottom three.  First, Banqiao continued to gain users, and overtook Jiantan to become the 7th most popular station in the system, just shy of Xinpu, which saw its ridership fall slightly.  Banqiao remains the only station opened after 2001 to be among the top 10.  In addition, Dingxi replaced Zhongshan as the 10th most popular station, presumably boosted by the Zhonghe Line's increased frequency and new direct connection to the Xinzhuang Line.  Dingxi is the 4th station in New Taipei to make the list, and the first on the Zhonghe-Xinlu Line.  Since the Dingxi area has little to attract people from outside Yonghe, Dingxi is almost certainly an origin station rather than a destination, suggesting that the Zhonghe-Xinlu Line feeds passengers into other parts of the MRT system rather than take them directly to their destination.  

As in pervious years, the Bannan Line was the dominant line in the MRT system, with 7 of the top ten stations and all of the top 5.  The Danshui Line remains the second most important, even though its share of the top ten dropped from 4 stations to 3.  The Zhonghe-Xinlu Line just broke into the top ten with one station, while the Wenhu Line only made it onto the list through its transfer station with the Bannan Line.
Below are the 10 least-used stations for 2013:

Station	Line	Exits+Entrances
Nangang Software Park	Wenhu	789,000
Wanfang Community	Wenhu	1,363,000
Xiaobitan	Xiaobitan	1,413,000
Dahu Park	Wenhu	1,900,000
Zhongyi	Danshui	1,990,000
Xinhai	Wenhu	2,078,000
Xianse Temple	Zhonghe-Xinlu	2,137,000
Sanchong	Zhonghe-Xinlu	2,202,000
Fuxinggang	Danshui	2,455,000
Linguang	Wenhu	2,603,000

As with the top 10, the bottom 10 are mostly the same as last year, with the exception of Touqianzhuang being replaced by Linguang.  This leaves the Wenhu Line dominating the list with 5 stations, while the Danshui and Zhonghe-Xinlu Lines are tied for second with 2 each.
Below are the average number of riders passing through all the stations on each line.  Average ridership for all stations grew by 4.8% compared to 2012.

Line	Av. Exits+Entrances/Stations	% Change
Bannan	20,690,000	2.0%
Danshui/Xindian	13,596,000	N/A
Xindian	11,053,000	3.2%
Danshui	15,101,000	2.6%
Zhonghe-Xinlu	9,268,000	N/A
Zhonghe	17,325,000	10.6%
Zhongxiao Xinsheng to Daqiaotou	9.944,000	26.6%
Luzhou	7,137,000	8.2%
Xinzhuang	4,763,000	8.8%
Wenhu	5,956,000	2.2%
Neihu	5,152,000	6.3%
Muzha	6,759,000	-0.7%

Unsurprisingly, the Bannan Line was the most heavily used line, followed by the Danshui-Xindian Line, the Zhonghe-Xinlu Line and finally the Wenhu Line.  This reflects how many stations each line has in the top ten.  Ridership was most uneven on the Zhonghe-Xinlu Line, with the Zhonghe Line having the heaviest ridership, the trunk section of the Xinzhuang Line seeing mediocre ridership and the Luzhou and especially the Xinzhuang branches having very low ridership. The Xinzhuang Branch was the second least-used section of the MRT, followed only by the Muzha section of the Wenhu Line.
Growth was very uneven in 2013.  The largest gains in ridership were on the newest lines, with the central section of the Xinzhuang Line between Zhongxiao Xinsheng and Daqiaotou growing faster than any other section of the MRT, and Songjiang Nanjing gaining more users than any other station, followed by Xingtian Temple.  This was presumably the result of the improved connection to the Zhonghe Line, though some of the increase may also have been caused by people adjusting their travel habits to take advantage of the new line- for example, people may be more willing to take jobs near the Xinzhuang Line that they were before.
The Zhonghe Line saw the second-largest gains after the trunk section of the Xinzhuang Line, presumably from increased frequency and the faster connection to the Xinzhuang Line and east Taipei.  However, the increase was less than half that of the Xinzhuang trunk line, suggesting that the Xinzhuang Line gained more from the new connection.  The Xinzhuang and Luzhou branches also gained quite a bit of ridership compared to 2012, presumably mostly from people adjusting to the new lines.
The Wenhu Line also saw uneven growth, with the Neihu section growing faster than the system average while the Muzha section losing passengers, especially in its central Taipei section.  Even with this decline- which follows a decline last year- the Muzha Line still has much higher ridership than it did before the Neihu extension opened.
Finally, although it doesn't appear on the above chart, the central section of the Danshui Line (that is, from Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall to Shuanglian) also lost ridership.  Part of this may have been caused by Zhonghe and Xindian Line passengers switching to the Xinzhuang Line to get to central and eastern Zhongshan District rather than transferring to buses at Zhongshan, Shuanglian or Minquan West Rd. stations, though the decline at NTU Hospital and Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall suggest it may be caused by other factors.
Overall, trends in 2013 were positive: newer, lesser used parts of the MRT gained ridership, which balanced out losses in more heavily used sections.  However, ridership remains very uneven, with the Bannan Line connecting to far more destinations than any other line.  To even out ridership Taipei should focus on developing destinations near central areas along less heavily used sections of the MRT.  For example, developing Minquan West Rd. as a destination would attract more riders from the underused Xinzhuang and Luzhou branches, as well as from the not especially crowded Xinzhuang trunk and northern Danshui Line.

Illegal Bicycle Parking Near MRT Stations

Usually the biggest annoyance for pedestrians in Taiwan is scooters parked on sidewalks, but according to the Liberty Times bicycles are also becoming an issue.  While remembering to take any Taiwanese newspaper's claims with a grain of salt, this reflects a pattern in Taipei City's promotion of cycling, where cyclists are permitted to take space from pedestrians but rarely from cars and scooters (Xinyi Rd. is an exception to this, with the removal of scooter parking providing space for cycling).  This discourages walking, the most environmentally friendly form of transport (as well as the safest and healthiest), while leaving drivers with a disproportionate amount of street space.  Of course, Taipei's government can't wholly be held responsible for illegal bicycle parking, but the police admission to only targeting illegally parked cyclists near the Gongguan and Technology Building MRT stations shows some culpability.  Cycling should definitely be encouraged, but more cycling will require taking space from other modes of transportation- and that mode should be automobiles, not pedestrians.

Taichung Passes Limited Ban on Fuel-Burning Scooters

Taichung is probably the most difficult Taiwanese city to get around without a motor vehicle: it doesn't yet have any mass transit rail, its bus system is difficult to use, and sidewalks are often nonexistent even on busy streets.  So it's very surprising to see that Taichung, more or less out of the blue, has proposed banning its most popular form of transportation: gasoline-burning scooters- albeit only in certain to be determined areas, and not until 2021.  Areas that might be considered are the Shuinan Trade Zone and the city's pedestrian zones (they aren't banned in pedestrian zones already??).  The measure is part of a law to lower Taichung's carbon emissions, and originally was only going to apply to scooters with two-stroke engines before it was expanded.  The city also plans on offering subsidies to encourage people to switch to electric scooters.
Needless to say, the new law caused a wave of online anger from scooter drivers who feel that the Taichung City Government is "oppressing" them.  While I believe the complaints are overblown and think lowering scooter usage is a good thing, I also think a ban is a bad way to achieve this goal, given the backlash it caused.  Perhaps a carbon tax or fuel tax that applied to cars as well as scooters would attract less opposition and be easier to defend.  Also, lack of public consultation before this law was passed helped ensure it would meet opposition from people who felt their interests were not being taken into account at all.
Hopefully the furor will calm down, the ban will be enacted and no one will care much because Taichung will have a much better mass transit system by then, and regardless the ban will only effect a small area.  By bungling this, however, Jason Hu has made it much more likely that Taichung's next mayor will overturn it and do little to make Taichung hospitable for walking and mass transit.