Taipei and New Taipei City (新北市) will number their 5,000 bus stops in the first half of this year to make it easier for passengers to get around, government officials said on Thursday.
Some bus stops have similar names, which might be confusing, so the two governments will come up with a numeric system to make each stop “simple and clear,” said Yang Chin-ting, a section chief at the Taipei City Government.
“We believe the codes will make it easier to identify the stops,” she said.
As part of a move toward an intelligent transportation system, the numeric code will better serve foreign passengers in the two municipalities, even though each stop already has an English name, she said.
The bus stop codes will supplement rather than replace the current names and will be featured in mobile applications for real-time bus timetables, Yang said.
The two governments are still discussing whether the numeric system should be based on zip codes, similar to models in the UK and South Korea, Yang said.
In addition, the Taipei City Government plans to launch an initiative this year to improve public transportation drivers’ foreign language skills, in response to the growing number of foreign visitors.
Cheng Wei-bang, who is in charge of the project, said the city government will initially offer free English and Japanese language classes to 300 bus and taxi drivers.
“It is a first step, and if the results are good, we may expand it to more people,” he said.
There are about 5,000 bus drivers and 30,000 taxi drivers in Taipei, according to statistics.
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