Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC) yesterday said Japanese and Korean-language interfaces are available at kiosks at three MRT metropolitan railway stations, and that it would finish upgrading all 337 kiosks citywide to cater to Japanese and South Korean visitors by the end of this month.
The 39 kiosks at MRT Taipei Main Station, as well as those at the Zhongshan and Ximen stations — which previously operated only in Chinese and English — have been upgraded and now allow use in four languages, boosting the convenience for foreigners buying IC tokens for their rides, the company said.
To better serve the large number of Japanese and South Korean tourists, kiosks at all other stations are to be upgraded as well, it said.
Japanese and Korean-language buttons are to be accompanied by English translations, in the same way that Chinese-language options are explained with English text, it said.
Operation for Taiwanese commuters would remain the same, meaning they just need to press buttons displayed on the touch screen when they buy tickets or add value to an EasyCard, it said.
The kiosks were last upgraded in July 2014, allowing users to add value to EasyCards and buy tickets at one station, it said.
The company said the kiosks are the most widely used service in the nation’s transportation sector, benefiting more than 5 million travelers who spend an average of about NT$300 million (US$9.1 million) on MRT rides every month.
Statistics compiled by the Tourism Bureau showed that the number of Japanese who visited the nation last year, 1.62 million, was the largest non-Chinese-speaking group of visitors and the second-largest overall, followed by South Korea’s 658,757 visitors, which ranked second-highest among non-Chinese speakers and the fourth-highest overall.
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