The MRT Luzhou (Lujhou) Line connecting Taipei County’s Lujhou (蘆洲) and Sanchong (三重) cities with Taipei City will begin operation on Wednesday and passengers on the line will be able to ride for free for 30 days during the one-month trial run, the Taipei City Government announced yesterday.
During the trial service that runs until Dec. 2, passengers who use EasyCards will only be charged if they transfer to other lines.
Compared with the trial services for other MRT lines, which either gave free rides to nearby residents or offered free services for only several hours a day, the new line offers a more generous service, setting off speculation that Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) might be using the free trial run to garner support in the upcoming Taipei mayoral election.
PHOTO: FANG PIN-CHAO, TAIPEI TIMES
Announcing the operation date at Taipei City Hall yesterday, Hau dismissed the speculation and said the city government decided to extend the period of the trial run because the Control Yuan had blamed the malfunctions of the Wenshan-Neihu Line on its short trial run period, which was three days.
Hau said the city also decided to extend the period because the operation of the line should help ease traffic to the Taipei International Flora Expo.
“Many of the line’s stations are near the expo sites and we encourage all visitors to the expo to take advantage of the line ... The election was not behind our decision,” he said.
Construction began on the line in 2002 and it includes 11 stations. According to the Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC), more than 200,000 commuters are -expected to use the line each day. It will take about 19 minutes to get from Luzhou (Lujhou) Station to Zhongxiao Xinsheng Station and about 21 minutes from Luzhou Station to Taipei Main Station, transfer time not included.
The line’s Xingtian Temple and Zhongshan Elementary School stations are within walking distance of the flora expo site in Xinsheng Park.
TRTC general manager Tsai Huei-sheng (蔡輝昇) said annual MRT ridership is expected to reach 500 million next year.
Tsai, meanwhile, apologized for two malfunctions on the Neihu Line and Red Line that occurred yesterday and promised to step up efforts to prevent similar incidents.
Service on the Neihu Line was shut down from 7:44am to 8:41am because of a power transmission box malfunction at Dahu Park Station. The incident was followed by a one-hour shutdown on the Red Line from 8:34am because of a power shortage at Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall Station.
Tsai described the two events as “two individual and independent incidents” that had not happened before.
The company is looking into the causes of the malfunctions and will examine all MRT lines to avoid similar problems.
Taiwan is to commence mass production of the Tien Kung (天弓, “Sky Bow”) III, IV and V missiles by the second quarter of this year if the legislature approves the government’s NT$1.25 trillion (US$39.78 billion) special defense budget, an official said yesterday. Commenting on condition of anonymity, a defense official with knowledge of the matter said that the advanced systems are expected to provide crucial capabilities against ballistic and cruise missiles for the proposed “T-Dome,” an advanced, multi-layered air defense network. The Tien Kung III is an air defense missile with a maximum interception altitude of 35km. The Tien Kung IV and V
The disruption of 941 flights in and out of Taiwan due to China’s large-scale military exercises was no accident, but rather the result of a “quasi-blockade” used to simulate creating the air and sea routes needed for an amphibious landing, a military expert said. The disruptions occurred on Tuesday and lasted about 10 hours as China conducted live-fire drills in the Taiwan Strait. The Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) said the exercises affected 857 international flights and 84 domestic flights, affecting more than 100,000 travelers. Su Tzu-yun (蘇紫雲), a research fellow at the government-sponsored Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said the air
Taiwan lacks effective and cost-efficient armaments to intercept rockets, making the planned “T-Dome” interception system necessary, two experts said on Tuesday. The concerns were raised after China’s military fired two waves of rockets during live-fire drills around Taiwan on Tuesday, part of two-day exercises code-named “Justice Mission 2025.” The first wave involved 17 rockets launched at 9am from Pingtan in China’s Fujian Province, according to Lieutenant General Hsieh Jih-sheng (謝日升) of the Office of the Deputy Chief of the General Staff for Intelligence at the Ministry of National Defense. Those rockets landed 70 nautical miles (129.6km) northeast of Keelung without flying over Taiwan,
A strong continental cold air mass is to bring pollutants to Taiwan from tomorrow, the Ministry of Environment said today, as it issued an “orange” air quality alert for most of the country. All of Taiwan except for Hualien and Taitung counties is to be under an “orange” air quality alert tomorrow, indicating air quality that is unhealthy for sensitive groups. In China, areas from Shandong to Shanghai have been enveloped in haze since Saturday, the ministry said in a news release. Yesterday, hourly concentrations of PM2.5 in these areas ranged from 65 to 160 micrograms per cubic meter (mg/m³), and pollutants were
RSS