Taichung City Government has selected 6 routes with the most passengers to develop the main line bus network. Upon the official launch on July 1, the main line buses received positive feedback from the public. The Transportation Bureau of Taichung City Government said that the city government will continue to review the current bus network and promote the upgrade thereof. At the moment, the main line bus policy has been implemented in the six bus corridors with most passengers (i.e., Fuxing Road, Zhongxing Road, Taiwan Boulevard, Zhongqing Road, Chongde Road and Beitun Road). In the future, the implementation results will be discussed and evaluated for the decision of whether to expand the main line bus network.
Director General of Transportation Bureau Yeh Chao-Fu pointed out that the city government has been continuously reviewing the bus network and promoting its upgrade. Based on the analysis of the bus traffic volume before the pandemic and the usage situation by people taking buses in major corridors, Taiwan Boulevard is the most popular bus line (2,500,000 rides), followed by Chongde Road (550,000 rides), Beitun Road (450,000 rides), Zhongqing Road (330,000 rides), Zhongxing Road (330,000 rides) and Fuxing Road (240,000 rides).
The Transportation Bureau explains that, as Taiwan Boulevard, Chongde Road, Beitun Road, Zhongqing Road, Zhongxing and Fuxing Road are the main bus corridors for passengers, the city government has therefore launched the main line bus policy for these corridors as a priority. The policy includes: one shift every 10 minutes during rush hour; one shift every 15 minutes during non-rush hour; all main line buses have low-floor accessible designs and are coated with their respective colors; and all bus stops and transit shelters are also colored in the same colors for easier identification.
As for the question about whether Nantun District will be developed with a main line bus route, the Transportation Bureau says that it attaches great importance to this district, and has previously taken stock of the transportation resources of this region’s major bus corridors (ex., Wenxin Road, Gongyi Road, Siangshang Road and Wuquan West Road). As Wenxin Road is now provided with MRT Green Line services, the Bureau therefore did not introduce a main line bus service here at this stage as it would compete with the MRT Green Line. Instead, the Bureau has focused on enhancing the horizontal connections to the MRT Green Line with shuttle services as the primary mission to avoid wasting the limited public transportation resources.
Moreover, there are Routes 27, 72, 81 and 107 on Gongyi Road now, Routes 5, 83, 89, 199, 290 and 356 on Siangshang Road, and Routes 40, 56 and 75 on the corridor of Wuquan Road and Wuquan West Road to connect important public transportation nodes, such as Taichung Train Station, MRT stations and THSR Taichung station and provide frequent transportation services.
The Transportation Bureau also pointed out that, apart from the bus service routes and frequent shifts, the MRT Green Line was officially launched last April with 4 MRT stations in Nantun District. Apart from the original bus routes, Route 83 and Route 365 were newly developed to enhance the transit and shuttle services in order to encourage more people to take public transportation. According to the on-site survey conducted by the Transportation Bureau, the traffic volume of Nantun District’s major bus corridors – such as Gongyi Road and Wuquan West Road – is only around 110,000 each month. This is the reason that Nantun District has been excluded from the main line bus corridors in the first phase.
Director General of the Transportation Bureau Yeh emphasized that to optimize the bus network and enhance the traffic volume of buses, the Transportation Bureau will evaluate the implementation results of its main line bus policy on these six corridors, analyze their key success factors and gradually apply these factors to other corridors in order to expand the main line bus network and encourage more people to use public transportation.