Why Taiwanese Don't Take Mass Transit

A couple months ago the Ministry of Transportation released the results of a survey on transit use.  The full report is available here.  There's lots of interesting data there, much of which I would like to comment on later, but first I want to start with the section about why Taiwanese don't take mass transit.  The results are summarized below (note that respondents could choose multiple answers):

Reason	% in 2012	% change vs. 2009
Driving is more convenient	45.7%	-8.1%
Origin/destination too far from a station	35.0%	5.6%
Unnecessary because destination is close	20.4%	3.2%
Arrival times inconvenient/ too few	12.0%	1.8%
Waiting/transferring takes too much time	9.9%	n/a
Driving is faster	6.4%	n/a
Too many transfers	4.8%	1.2%
Not used to mass transit	4.6%	1.9%
More expensive than alternatives	1.8%	0.1%
Walking/ cycling is healthier	1.1%	-0.2%
Mass transit is too slow	1.0%	n/a

I have a few problems with these categories- "inconvenient" is too vague a category to be really informative, for one- but there are still a few points I'd like to make.
First, most people appear willing to use transit if it suits their needs.  Not being in the "habit" of taking transit, often cited as a reason certain places have low transit mode share, was chosen by a mere 4.6% of the respondents.  All the other reasons cited are related to convenience and could potentially be mitigated.  This suggests there is a lot of potential for mode share expansion, and little opposition to transit per se as often seen in the United States.
Second, a surprisingly large percentage of the respondents feel they are too far from any transit station, including bus stops.  This suggests that expanding Taiwan's bus networks should be a high priority, to ensure coverage for most of the population.  Given Taiwan's density and geography this should be more practical than in most other countries.  Improving the pedestrian environment to make walking faster and distances from stations therefore feel shorter may also help.  Interestingly, the number of people who feel they are too far from a stop has gone up by 5% over the past four years, though I don't know if there has actually been a decrease in bus service, or if people who avoided transit for other reasons in previous years have been convinced to switch so that those who feel stations are too far make up a larger proportion of those who don't take transit.
In terms of service quality, low frequencies are a big problem, accounting for the fourth and fifth most common complaints.  I've personally found this to be true everywhere outside Greater Taipei, and often even in Taipei itself.  However, not too many people seem to feel that driving is actually faster than transit, which I find somewhat surprising.
I would have also been interested to know if people avoided transit because of crowding, cleanliness or the inconvenience of carrying luggage, but at least on a larger scale this survey shows Taiwan should focus primarily on service quality to attract more transit riders.

Ministry of Transportation Considering Railway to Hengchun

Minister of Transportation Yeh Kuang-shih recently announced that the Ministry would soon begin studying the feasibility of building a rail line connecting Hengchun to Fangliao, calling it a "very important upcoming task".  When asked by a reporter he also said that an extension to Kending is a possibility.
While I hope this does turn out to be feasible, I do wonder whether this should be a priority compared to other projects, like expanding capacity around Taipei and Taoyuan, building a direct rail line between Taipei and Yilan, or even adding branches or a second main line between Taichung and Tainan.  All those projects would affect far more people on a daily basis, whereas Yeh claims the purpose of this rail line would be to attract tourists rather than locals.  Maybe tourist traffic will turn out to be enough to justify this line, but the article implies that Kending only gets high numbers of tourists at certain times.  If that is the case then bus-only lanes might be a more cost-effective solution.  This focus on tourist infrastructure is a common theme in Taiwan, and while I'm not sure what the reasons for it are, I think Yeh's comment that "rail construction is a never-ending job" hints at a desire to find excuses to keep building things (though to be fair there are plenty of worthwhile projects that need to be done).

Ridership Predictions for Huilong and Danfeng

Ahead of the opening of the Xinzhuang Line extension to Danfeng and Huilong this Saturday, the New Taipei Transportation Bureau predicted that the two stations will attract 21,000 rides a day (7,665,000 a year).  This isn't very good compared to the ridership numbers for the Xinzhuang Line last year, though at least neither station is likely to end up in the bottom ten.
In the same article the Transportation Bureau also claims that from Huilong to Minquan W. Rd. will take 22 minutes, and to Zhongxiao Xinsheng will take 28, making taking the MRT faster than taking a bus.  There are a few problems with this though: for one thing, not many people want to go to those two stations, and because the Xinzhuang Line goes all the way to the Taipei Bridge before entering Taipei, the MRT will actually be less competitive for people going to some more popular destinations, especially Taipei Main and Ximen.  In fact, two of Taipei's five most popular bus routes in 2011 took more direct routes to link Xinzhuang to Ximen and Taipei Main, showing that those routes, and not one that goes all the way to Minquan W. Rd., is where the most demand for Xinzhuang-Taipei transit is.  Furthermore, part of the goal of the MRT should be attracting drivers rather than just replacing buses.  It should be a given that the MRT would outpace buses, the real question should be is it faster than driving.

Fixing Taoyuan's Sidewalks

Last week the Liberty Times reported that Taoyuan is planning on spending NT$400 million on improving sidewalks along 10 roads as part of becoming a directly governed municipality.  Specific improvements include installing more durable tiles, fixing broken sidewalks, leveling out sidewalks so that steps will be only 8 to 10 centimeters high, and eliminating some transformers.  According to Taoyuan Mayor Su Jiaming, these improvements are part of the Interior Ministry's "People-oriented" policy of making cities more livable and creating more ecological and accessible environment.  The project is expected to be completed before 2015.
Any improvement to Taiwan's sidewalks is good news, and it is especially encouraging that they mention leveling out sidewalks- walking on sidewalks Taiwan often involves a lot up and down.  (Though given the job they've done in Yonghe I'm skeptical how great the improvement will be.)  That said, it's disappointing that this article doesn't mention two of the largest problems facing pedestrians in Taiwan: nonexistent sidewalks on streets wide enough to have them (contrary to recent Taipei policy, lanes should not have separate sidewalks), and scooters and cars blocking sidewalks, often illegally.  These two problems often force pedestrians to share the street with speeding cars, or at best to zigzag around parked vehicles.  The problem with resolving these problems is they require taking away parking spaces, which politicians are loathe to do for fear of incensing drivers.  Given how dense Taipei's cities are, though, it makes little sense to coddle drivers at the expense of walkers' safety and comfort.  If Taiwan is serious about mass transit, environmentalism and creating quieter, safer, and less polluted cities, this would be the best place to start.

MRT Expansion Plans: The Wugu-Taishan Line

Proposed route of the Wugu-Taishan Line, from the New Taipei Dept. of Transportation website.  The Wugu-Taishan Line is red, the Airport Line is green, the Circular Line is yellow and the Luzhou Line is orange.

Recently plans were unveiled for a Luzhou-Wugu-Taishan light rail line, which would run roughly parallel to the western edge of the Taipei Basin to link Luzhou Station in the north to the Airport Line in the south.  It will parallel the Circular Line and serve built-up areas of Wugu that would otherwise be far from any MRT station even once other currently planned lines are completed.  The planned length is 7.98 km, with 8 stations, and some segments will be elevated.
According to the department's vice commissioner,  Chen Wenrui, light rail construction costs NT$200-300 million 2-3 billion, or US$6.6-10 66-100 million, per kilometer.
Although it's great that the outer reaches of the Taipei Basin are also slated to get rail, and I think for the most part this plan makes sense seeing as it uses probably the only road wide enough in the area to build a rail line, I do wonder about the southernmost section of the line (leftmost in the above map), where instead taking the shortest route to link with the Airport Line at stop A4 (Xinzhuang Fuduxin), the Wugu-Taishan Line swerves south to parallel it, only joining it at stop A5a (Furen University Hospital).  Meeting the Airport Line farther to the west means that anyone from Wugu headed towards Taipei Main is going to have a longer trip, possibly as much as 10 minutes longer judging from the map.  Furthermore, this stretch is already close enough to the Airport Line that it needlessly duplicates it, and residents of that area bound for Wugu or Luzhou could simply transfer at Xinzhuang Fuduxin without taking significantly more time.  If it did turn out that there is a need for a rail line along that route, a second line could be built that instead of joining the Wugu-Taishan Line would intersect it at station W5, then continue east and meet the Circular Line at Y19A.  This would provide the same coverage as the current plan but with better connections.

Taipei MRT Ridership in 2012

2012's top ten stations are listed below, ranked by the number of times each station was entered and exited.

Station	Line	Exits+Entrances
Taipei Main Station	Red, Blue	114,659,000
Taipei City Hall	Blue	45,723,000
Ximen	Blue, Xiaonanmen	41,935,000
Zhongxiao Fuxing	Blue, Brown	37,751,000
Zhongxiao Dunhua	Blue	28,972,000
Danshui	Red	27,884,000
Xinpu	Blue	26,980,000
Jiantan	Red	25,293,000
Banqiao	Blue	24,531,000
Zhongshan	Red	22,971,000

The most noteworthy change from last year is Xinpu's drop from 5th place to 7th place, presumably because some of the people from Xinzhuang who used to transfer to the MRT there now instead can use the Xinzhuang Line.  Banqiao also moved up a place, overtaking Zhongshan.  No station opened after 2006 has yet entered the top 10.
The least-used stations in 2012 are as follows:

Station	Line	Exits+Entrances
Nangang Software Park	Brown	687,000
Xiaobitan	Xiaobitan	1,217,000
Wanfang Community	Brown	1,372,000
Xianse Temple	Orange	1,778,000
Sanchong	Orange	1,809,000
Dahu Park	Brown	1,842,000
Zhongyi	Red	2,047,000
Xinhai	Brown	2,065,000
Fuxinggang	Red	2,462,000
Touqianzhuang	Orange	2,539,000

As should be expected, many Muzha-Neihu line stations are among the bottom ten.  The Muzha-Neihu line is lower capacity than the other lines, with no station other than Zhongxiao Fuxing even approaching 20 million entrances and exits every year, but with trains and stations being crowded regardless, so this is to be expected.  More disappointing (though not surprising, as I will explain below) is the presence of three stations on the high-capacity Xinzhuang Line.
Below is the ridership of the average station on each line:

Blue:                                      20,283
Danshui/ Zhonghe/ Xindian:    13,592
Xinzhuang (incl Luzhou):         6,153
Brown:                                   5,828

And the ridership for separate branches:

Danshui:                                 14,721
Xindian:                                   9,660
Zhonghe:                                 15,665
Xinzhuang (Xinbei section):       4,377
Luzhou:                                   6,598

The blue line has much denser usage than any other line, while the Xinzhuang Line has the least-dense usage, even less than the lower-capacity Wenhu Line.  This confirms what the list of least-used stations suggests: the Xinzhuang Line is very underused compared to other lines.  Presumably its ridership will grow a little more as more people try it or move to Xinzhuang with the intention of using it, and as new lines increase the usefulness of the system as a whole.  But even if it does grow, this is a very low point to start from.
The Xinzhuang Line passes through very dense areas that should have plenty of demand for an MRT line into Taipei City, so why is it faring so poorly?  A major issue is probably its route.  Rather than taking a direct path from Xinzhuang and south Sanchong into Taipei, the line makes a long detour north to join the Luzhou Line and enter Taipei under the Taipei Bridge.  While this looks elegant on a road map, it forces riders to take a roundabout route to get to most of the rest of the MRT system, especially the blue line.  This means that many Xinzhuang residents may find that taking the bus or driving is actually faster than taking the MRT, and that those who do choose to take it will be forced to spend more time in transit.  If the Xinzhuang Line had been built so that it crossed into Taipei under the Zhongxiao Bridge or the Zhongxing Bridge we would certainly see much greater ridership on the Xinzhuang Line, and therefore in the MRT system as a whole.  On the other hand, the Luzhou Branch has a much more direct route into Taipei, but also has low ridership compared to other branch lines, so perhaps the scooter-oriented nature of urban development west of the Danshui River is to blame.

Kaohsiung MRT's Most and Least Popular Stations

Below is a list of the six most popular KMRT stations in 2011, along with the most popular station on the orange line:

Station	Line	Exits+Entrances
Kaohsiung Train Station	Red	9,759,000
Zuoying	Red	7,720,000
Kaohsiung Arena	Red	7,348,000
Sanduo Commercial Dist.	Red	6,898,000
Central Park	Red	6,040,000
Formosa Boulevard	Red/Orange	4,056,000
(Xiziwan	Orange	2,250,000)

And the five least popular:

Station	Line	Exits+Entrances
Qingpu	Red	510,000
Qiaotou Sugar Refinery	Red	586,000
Houjing	Red	759,000
Dadong	Orange	829,000
Fengshan J.H.S.	Orange	943,000

As nearly everyone familiar with the KMRT might have guessed, these numbers are far below those for Taipei's MRT.  The most popular station has only middling usage by Taipei's standards, and only one station in Taipei's MRT would make it onto the list of Kaohsiung's least-used stations.
Rather than go into why Kaohsiung's MRT has underperformed- for the record I think the reason is that the city is too car/ scooter friendly, and is not hemmed in by mountains like Taipei and so can sprawl more- I'd like to look at what this says about the system's design.  Most obviously, the three least-used stations are on the northern end of the red line, even though the red line gets heavier usage overall than the orange line.  Moreover, this section of the red line parallels the TRA's main line.  The TRA could have provided comparable rapid transit service to this area by adding stations and frequency, and at most by adding a third track, which presumably would have been far cheaper than extending the two-tracked KMRT.  The KMRT could have had its terminus at the Nanzih TRA station, where a reasonably easy transfer could have been designed.  The lower construction costs would have cut down on the depreciation the KMRT is now paying without significantly effecting its income.
Second, these numbers suggest that the orange line's alignment was poorly chosen.  Aside from stations that provide transfers to other mass transit (Kaohsiung Train Station and Zuoying) and Kaohsiung Arena (whose popularity I can't explain), the most popular stations are Central Park and Sanduo, both of which have nearly a million more yearly passengers than Formosa Boulevard.  I'm not very familiar with Kaohsiung, but it is also my impression that this area is Kaohsiung's commercial center, hosting several large malls and commercial districts.  The orange line might have gotten more ridership if it crossed the red line at one of these stations, since it would connect passengers directly to a popular destination rather than forcing them to transfer at Formosa Boulevard.  It also would have had less overlap with the TRA's Kaohsiung-Pingdong line, thereby doing more to expand rail transit coverage in Kaohsiung.  Even though this would have meant that passengers traveling between the more popular stations on the red line's northern half and the areas served by the orange line would have a longer trip, these areas would have been almost as easily served by the Kaohsiung-Pingdong Line, which is less than a kilometer away from the orange line for its entire length.  Even without the nearby rail line, I suspect a direct trip to somewhere, longer trip to other places type of alignment would have worked better than no direct trip to any major destination alignment the KMRT currently has.