Automated traffic lights that give priority to public transportation were put into operation on Sunday along Tainan’s green bus line, after the successful completion of a trial period.
Speaking at a news conference held to announce the launch the system, the Tainan City Government’s Bureau of Transportation director Chang Cheng-yuan (張政源) said that the lights are the nation’s first traffic management system that prioritizes public transportation on regular traffic lanes, as opposed to dedicated bus lanes.
The traffic lights that are installed on intersections along the the bus route between Tainan Railway Station and Sinhua District’s (新化) Sinhua Railway Station were built in the absence of a light railway or a rapid bus transport system in the city, Chang said.
Photo: Hung Jui-chin, Taipei Times
“The system is rare even globally,” he said.
During the trial period, the system shaved an average of five minutes off the time buses spent waiting at traffic lights during peak hours and three minutes during off-peak hours on each trip, which reduced the journey times by 10 percent, the bureau said.
COMMUTE-TIMES CUT
The system is expected to cut 6,705 hours per year from commutes, representing an estimated NT$14 million (US$427,116) in added productivity, and is to decrease carbon emissions by 24 tonnes per year, the bureau said.
Tainan Deputy Mayor Tseng Hsu-cheng (曾旭正) said that the system would increase the efficiency of public buses and encourage Tainan residents to use them more frequently, adding that the city plans to implement the system on other bus lines.
The system is to be installed on the city’s red line and green line next year, the bureau said, while the yellow, orange and brown lines are to receive the system in 2017, with a budget of NT$42 million.
The Taipei Summer Festival is to begin tomorrow at Dadaocheng Wharf (大稻埕), featuring four themed firework shows and five live music performances throughout the month, the Taipei Department of Information and Tourism said today. The festival in the city’s Datong District (大同) is to run until Aug. 30, holding firework displays on Wednesdays and the final Saturday of the event. The first show is scheduled for tomorrow, followed by Aug. 13, 20 and 30. To celebrate the 30th anniversary of Disney Pixar's movie Toy Story, the festival has partnered with Walt Disney Co (Taiwan) to host a special themed area on
BE CAREFUL: The virus rarely causes severe illness or death, but newborns, older people and those with medical conditions are at risk of more severe illness As more than 7,000 cases of chikungunya fever have been reported in China’s Guangdong Province this year, including 2,892 new cases last week, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday said it is monitoring the situation and considering raising the travel notice level, which might be announced today. The CDC issued a level 1 travel notice, or “watch,” for Guangdong Province on July 22, citing an outbreak in Foshan, a manufacturing hub in the south of the province, that was reported early last month. Between July 27 and Saturday, the province reported 2,892 new cases of chikungunya, reaching a total of 7,716
STAY VIGILANT: People should reduce the risk of chronic liver inflammation by avoiding excessive alcohol consumption, smoking and eating pickled foods, the physician said A doctor last week urged people to look for five key warning signs of acute liver failure after popular producer-turned-entertainer Shen Yu-lin (沈玉琳) was reportedly admitted to an intensive care unit for fulminant hepatitis. Fulminant hepatitis is the rapid and massive death of liver cells, impairing the organ’s detoxification, metabolic, protein synthesis and bile production functions, which if left untreated has a mortality rate as high as 80 percent, according to the Web site of Advancing Clinical Treatment of Liver Disease, an international organization focused on liver disease prevention and treatment. People with hepatitis B or C are at higher risk of
Aftershocks from a magnitude 6.2 earthquake that struck off Yilan County at 3:45pm yesterday could reach a magnitude of 5 to 5.5, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Seismological Center technical officer Chiu Chun-ta (邱俊達) told a news conference that the epicenter of the temblor was more than 100km from Taiwan. Although predicted to measure between magnitude 5 and 5.5, the aftershocks would reach an intensity of 1 on Taiwan’s 7-tier scale, which gauges the actual effect of an earthquake, he said. The earthquake lasted longer in Taipei because the city is in a basin, he said. The quake’s epicenter was about 128.9km east-southeast