When you need to know how to get across the city on a bus, one phone call could be worth a whole stack of maps and schedules.
"Hello, Bus Boy! I need to get from Heping West Road Section 1 to the Taipei Flower Market. Which bus should I take?" one caller asked.
"The 214 takes you directly there, of course," Chen Yu-cheng (
Chen, who calls himself the "Bus Boy" (
"It's not uncommon for people to take suboptimal routes for trips they have taken for years," Chen said.
Chen developed a strong interest in buses as a teenager.
"One day in junior high I took the 208 as usual to go home," Chen said, "but I ended up in Yonghe instead because I accidentally took the express."
Chen picked up a bus route book and decided he never wanted to find himself on the wrong bus again. What started off as a utilitarian pursuit developed into something more, and Chen soon found himself memorizing bus routes and schedules. He even sat through classes sketching pictures of buses.
Fifteen years later, Chen is an illustrator and animator with a design company. His passion for buses has continued. Although he has entered the ranks of young professionals, he does not know how to ride a scooter.
"To me, a bus is a leisurely mode of transportation," Chen said. "On a bus you can sit back and relax above the traffic. You can watch the street life and the people."
Since Chen began offering his knowledge to the public last month -- advertising in online classifieds -- he has received a steady stream of phone calls daily, as well as a visit from a television news crew. For now, Chen's service is free.
"I would like to charge a small sum eventually," Chen said. "But I haven't figured out a good way for people to pay."
Chen answer questions on his cellphone or over the Internet.
Chen's Chinese-language blog can be found on the Web at mypaper.pchome.com.tw/news/ah181/.
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