The Taipei Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) system recorded its 10 billionth ride at noon yesterday, the Taipei Rapid Transit Corp said, adding that the 10 billionth passenger would receive one year of free rides on the system.
The lucky passenger rode the Zhonghe-Xinlu Line (中和新蘆線) and exited the MRT Sinjhuang (新莊) Station at 11:35am, the company said.
In addition to a year of unlimited rides, the passenger would be given a notebook computer worth more than NT$30,000, the company said.
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
The passenger’s transportation smart card number is 9122117626706366, it added.
Ten other passengers — the five people who rode the MRT before and after the 10 billionth passenger — would receive 90 days of free rides, it said, adding that their card numbers have been announced on the company’s Web site.
The winners should contact the firm before midnight on April 30, it said.
At an event in Taipei’s Daan Forest Park (大安森林公園) on Saturday celebrating 10 billion rides on the Taipei MRT, Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) said that the system was launched in 1996 and has been operating for 23 years.
About 40,000 rides were recorded per day when it was launched and now about 2.1 million rides are recorded per day, he said.
The system has become an important part of Taipei residents’ daily lives, as well as something that the city is proud of, Ko said.
It has many aspects that city residents are proud of, such as its cleanness and brightness, the culture of lining up to get on the trains, as well as offering priority seats to those in need, he said.
The company is also mulling incorporating more artistic and aesthetic elements into the MRT stations, such as the underground bookstore lane at the Zhongshan Metro Mall and street dance events in stations, he said.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
CHINA REACTS: The patrol and reconnaissance plane ‘transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,’ the 7th Fleet said, while Taipei said it saw nothing unusual The US 7th Fleet yesterday said that a US Navy P-8A Poseidon flew through the Taiwan Strait, a day after US and Chinese defense heads held their first talks since November 2022 in an effort to reduce regional tensions. The patrol and reconnaissance plane “transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,” the 7th Fleet said in a news release. “By operating within the Taiwan Strait in accordance with international law, the United States upholds the navigational rights and freedoms of all nations.” In a separate statement, the Ministry of National Defense said that it monitored nearby waters and airspace as the aircraft
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique