To optimize citizens’ convenience in taking buses, Taichung City Government has installed service lights in 136 bus transit shelters in Taichung City. By pressing the button of the bus that you want to take, the light outside the transit shelter will light up. While bus commuters all praised “It’s very convenient!”, the elevator button with mysterious numbers also caused a heated discussion online: Does the transit shelter also has an elevator? Transportation Bureau expressed that the service lights installed in bus transit shelters had been used over 70,000 times each month after the launch and lights on the Wenxin corridor were used most frequently. The Bureau said that another 100 barrier-free bus transit service light systems would be installed and launched by the end of this year.
Recently a visitor to Taichung found a column of elevator-like buttons written with irregular numbers in the transit shelter when he planned to take a bus. He then made a post online and his post caused a heated discussion online. Netizens have made all kinds of speculations on the uses of these numbers and some even asked “Does the bus really stop if you press the button?”.
Bus commuters have been really amazed by the Bureau’s new design as they only need to press the number of the bus instead of leaving the shelter and waive at their buses to make them stop. They all say “What a smart, attentive and intelligent transit shelter!” This year, Transportation Bureau will increase the budget to install 100 barrier-free bus transit service light systems. It is now surveying and selecting the installation sites, and has put large hospitals on priority, enabling elder people to go to the hospital by bus.
Director General of Transportation Bureau Yeh Chao-fu pointed out that, considering wheelchaired and elderly passengers’ needs for bus services, the City Government has installed the service lights in bus transit shelters on Fengshi Road in Shigang District and Shatian Road along the coastline. Citizens who are waiting for buses can now press the service light to let the bus driver know that someone is waiting for the bus in that station. This will avoid bus drivers from missing passengers and reduce the risks involved when passengers wave at the bus close to the driving lane.
“To expand this friendly bus transit service, the Transportation Bureau has successively installed the barrier-free bus transit service light systems in 136 bus transit shelters on 7 routes – including Zhongqing, Beitun, Chongde, Wenxin, Zhongming, Fuxing and Wuquan – in the City” explained the Transportation Bureau. These bus transit shelters are installed with route buttons or keypads, allowing citizens to choose the bus route. After pressing the route button or entering the route, the service light within and outside the shelter will be switched on.
The small service light inside the shelter displays the barrier-free icon and chosen route, whereas the service light outside the shelter indicates the bus route that the passenger desires to take. This design not only allows bus drivers to get prepared to stop the bus after seeing the light, but also provides the elderly, vulnerable and disabled passengers with a safer bus transit service.
Director Yeh expressed that the public generally responded well to the newly launched bus transit service light system. The Taichung City Bus Transit Service Light 2.0, on the other hand, allows passengers not only to choose the route, but also to switch on the service light using their mobile phones by accessing the Taichung Bus APP. With the adoption of ICT technology, the new system enables passengers to avoid risks derived from contact with public facilities, helping to build an even more friendly bus-taking environment.
The Transportation Bureau pointed out that, considering wheelchaired and elderly people’s demand for bus services, the new version of the bus transit service light system now enables passengers to indicate the bus route that they want to take. In addition, among the six municipalities, Taichung City is also the first that has adopted internet-based ICT technology to establish an overall bus transit service light system by integrating dynamic bus information and application in the city’s primary corridors. In the future, the City Government will continue to expand this system to optimize the hardware and software of the City’s bus services.