Taichung BRT Blue Line

Taichung BRT Blue Line

Taichung BRT bus in Taichung Train Station
Overview
Owner Taichung City Government
Locale Taichung, Taiwan
Transit type Bus Rapid Transit
Number of lines 1
Number of stations 21
Website www.brttaichung.com.tw
Operation
Began operation July 27, 2014 to July 8, 2015
Character On street, in specialized lane
Headway Approximately 5–10 minutes
Technical
System length 17.1 km (10.6 mi)

The Taichung BRT Blue Line (Chinese: 臺中快捷巴士）was a Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system stretching from Taichung Station to Providence University. The line is 17.1-kilometer (10.6 mi)in length with 21 stations. It was the second BRT line in Taiwan. The line was converted into dedicated bus lane for conventional buses on July 8, 2015 and the BRT is no longer in operation.

Design and construction

MRT system in Taichung have been planned for nearly twenty years; however, because of the low rate of public transportation usage and the high cost of building MRT system (million of to tens of millions would be spent for each of MRT route), the MRT system has become extremely difficult to carry out. What is worse, the traffic in Taichung becomes much more congested due to the rapid development of the city.

To solve this problem, the city government started launching BRT project to speed up bus traveling time, to integrate numerous bus lines so as to enhance public transport efficiency, increase the rate of public transport usage and finally control traffic flow during rush hours. The government also stated that the construction of BRT would be 25 times cheaper than the MRT, and that the BRT system gives citizens alternative an alternative choice during rush our traffic jams.[1]

The first BRT line is built on Taiwan Blvd, which is the main road in Taichung and also the most congested. The director of Taichung Bureau of Transportation, Mr Lin also stated that if one day MRT is constructed, BRT will still be operating instead of being replaced by MRT.[2]

Articulated buses were legalized on February 2012, and construction of BRT blue line started in November 2013. The line opened for the public on July 27, 2014.[3][4]

Operation

Second Market Place,Jen-Ai Hospital Station

The line opened for the public on July 27, 2014. The Blue Line operated between the Taichung TRA Station in Central District and Providence University in Shalu District, with a control center located in Shalu. It took 40 minutes to get from one terminal to another. The route had a special lane on either side for the BRT, except for the section on Taichung Blvd. Sect. 1 and between the stations Fu'an and Maple Garden. A bus came approximately every 5-10 minutes to a station. Operation began at 6:00 AM and ended at 11:00 PM at the Taichung Train Station, and began at 5:00 and ended at 10:00 PM at Providence University.[5]

Following the discontinuation of the BRT system and conversion into a standard bus lane,  the articulated buses and stations continued to be used.  The buses were renamed as #300 and now share the line with conventional low-floor buses.  Smart cards now have to be swiped on the bus and the BRT equipment at the stations has been deactivated.

Features

Original Future Plans

Future plans for the BRT system.
Taichung BRT single ticket (Never used)

After the blue line operated, the Taichung City Government planned for extensions, one route extending west to Wuqi (梧棲), another to Dajia (大甲), one to Taichung Airport, and the other extending east from Taichung Station to Taiping (太平). The extensions would have added 18 kilometers (11 mi) to the route, making the entire line 35-kilometer (22 mi) long.[1] Other BRT lines were planned to be constructed. A planned orange line would have spanned from Shalu District to Wufeng District, passing through Daya, Beitun, North, Central, and Dali districts. Other lines were also planned, serving multiple districts.[6] These plans were discarded upon the decision to shut down the BRT system and convert it to a conventional bus lane in the spring of 2015.

Criticism

Taichung BRT blue line started test run and open to public on July 28; however, many of the facilities are under construction then, which provoked lots of debate and and criticism. Based on a poll conducted in August 2014, only 16.9% of the passengers were satisfied with the system, and only 25.5% of the passengers said that they would change how they travel based on the new service.[7] However,on September 13, according to the poll carried out by a student organisation, Taichung youth city government (台中青年市政府), 51% of the passengers were satisfied with the BRT system, 37% felt so-so, and 12% were dissatisfied with the system. Some of the investigated stated that because of BRT lane, signal priortity, and traveling time become much shorter.[8][9]

In November 2014, Taichung elected a new mayor Lin Chia-lung. On December 27, 2014, the newly elected mayor visited the temporary BRT operation center; he criticized the system, calling it a hoax. He pointed out that the 4 billion cost was unjustified (However, in reality, BRT blue line from Taichung station to Donghai Shopping district cost only 2.3 billion.) and then gave 5 main deficiencies of the system.[10] He called for a report to be written in 3 months, and afterwards he will consider if the BRT should be demolished.[11](in Chinese).

On Jan 24, almost all of the citizens joining the local government forum (臺中BRT公民網友攏踹共), including experts opposed abolishing BRT, or modifying BRT into simply bus lane, claiming that BRT is much faster than buses and all the city government should do is to improve existing facilities.[12] [13] [14][15]

However, despite the opponents of abolishing BRT, the mayor announced to demolish the BRT system and converted into a lane for conventional buses. [16] As a result, the Taichung BRT system ceased operations on July 8th, 2015.

References

  1. 1 2 Huang, H.-J., Liao, C.-Y., Tseng, C., & Lin, L.-T. (n.d.). Taichung BRT design record (PDF).
  2. ↑ The director of Bureau of Transportation: Construction of BRT won't impact the promote of MRT construction
  3. ↑ BRT大事紀101年版 (BRT Major Events: 2012 (Fact sheet)) (in Chinese). Bus Rapid Transit of Taichung. January 1, 2013. Retrieved January 30, 2015.
  4. ↑ BRT大事紀102年版 (BRT Major Events: 2013 (Fact sheet)) (in Chinese). Bus Rapid Transit of Taichung. January 1, 2014. Retrieved January 30, 2015;
  5. ↑ Taichung 臺中BRT藍線站位開放時間表 (BRT Blue Line Time Table) (in Chinese). Taichung City Government Transportation Bureau. August 11, 2014. Retrieved January 30, 2015.
  6. ↑ 認識臺中市快捷巴士系統(BRT) (PDF) (in Chinese). Taichung City Government. November 15, 2011.
  7. ↑ Chang, Y.-C. (August 11, 2014). Taichung’s BRT fails to impress: Poll. Taipei Times;
  8. ↑ 〈中部〉「青年市府」調查 BRT滿意度5成
  9. ↑ 學生團體民調 BRT滿意51％
  10. ↑ 斥資20多億BRT成歷史 台中公車免費里程延長
  11. ↑ 花40億 林佳龍嗆拆 「BRT是騙局」 (BRT costs four billion NTD, Lin Chia-Lung: "It's an Hoax".)
  12. ↑ Taichung residents call for bus rapid transit system to be retained
  13. ↑ BRT公民網友踹共論壇 多數盼改善
  14. ↑ BRT踹共說明會來的人都說別拆
  15. ↑ 《台中》首場公民網友踹共BRT 多數要求保留
  16. ↑ http://www.chinapost.com.tw/taiwan/local/taichung/2015/03/24/431876/Taichung-to.htm Taichung to replace BRT with dedicated bus lanes
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