The Kaohsiung Rapid Transit Corp (KRTC) will hold a ceremony on Sunday to inaugurate the Orange Line of the city’s metro system, a senior KRTC official said yesterday.
The Orange Line is 14.4km long with 15 stations and runs from Sizihwan (西子灣) in western Kaohsiung to Daliao Township (大寮) in Kaohsiung County. Its completion comes after the opening of the Red Line on March 9 this year.
The Red Line is the first subway line in the southern port city, and is 28.3km long with 23 stations. The Red Line runs from Kaohsiung’s Siaogang District (小港) to Chiaotou (橋頭) in Kaohsiung County.
KRTC public affairs director Huang Yi-chung (黃一中) said the Orange Line became operational on Sept. 14, but the inauguration ceremony was postponed to Sunday to accommodate the schedule of Premier Liu Chao-shiuan (劉兆玄), who will be attending the ceremony.
Huang also disclosed that the passenger volume on the Orange Line has reached just between 100,000 and 110,000 rides per day while the passenger volume on the Red Line has only increased by 20,000 rides to reach 100,000 per day since the Orange Line became operational.
A total ridership of nearly 210,000 passengers per day is still far from the KRTC target of 450,000 rides per day needed to balance its books. KRTC executives have estimated that it will take six to eight years for that to happen.
On the Orange Line’s inauguration day, guests will attend a ceremony at Dadong Station in Kaohsiung County before riding a train to Formosa Boulevard Station in the city of Kaohsiung to mark the opening of the Orange Line.
The public has been given eight days to enjoy free rides on the metro system until Monday, after which they will be charged a discounted fare of NT$15 for a single trip for the following 30 days, Huang said.
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