City bus routes should be shortened to allow bus drivers to take more breaks, Democratic Progressive Party Taipei City Councilor Chou Po-ya (周柏雅) said yesterday.
Chou said that the city has failed to restructure its system of bus routes to reflect the recent rapid expansion of the MRT system, continuing to operate long bus routes that impose unnecessary hardships on bus drivers.
The Taipei Department of Transportation says 65 of the city’s 300 bus routes have more than 100 stops, with 60 routes covering more than 40km.
“The mileage covered by many Taipei bus routes could stretch from Taipei to Hsinchu County,” Chou said. “Given speed limits and the number of stops, it can take up to four hours to complete a route — as long as it takes to get to Tainan on a major highway.”
While city bus drivers are required to complete routes as long as those for bus drivers on intercity routes, they are subjected to worse working conditions, he said. While drivers along intercity routes can stop occasionally at rest stations for a bathroom break, city bus drivers have to wait until they arrive back at their depot, which largely prevents them from being able to drink anything on their routes.
Labor regulations for city bus drivers are far more lax than the Road Traffic Management and Penalty Act (道路交通管理處罰條例) which regulates intercity drivers, the councilor said, adding that while intercity bus divers cannot be made to work for longer than four hours at a stretch due to safety concerns, city bus drivers can be made to work for up to six hours.
Taipei Public Transportation Office Deputy Director Lin Li-chu (林麗珠) said that many of the routes criticized would likely be adjusted as part of an ongoing reassessment of the city’s bus routes.
While in the past, the city has provided numerous long-distance bus routes to allow commuters to avoid the inconvenience of transfers, in the future, the city will seek to channel commuters into the MRT system, using buses mainly for shorter routes, she said.
However, she added that buses remain indispensable for certain routes between areas not covered by the MRT system.
She said the new bus route plans would not be ready until at least May next year due to the complexities of adjusting the system, along with the need to hold discussions with city residents.
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