Kaohsiung’s light rail system is to introduce longer service hours and more frequent service starting today, the Kaohsiung Mass Rapid Transit Bureau said yesterday.
The system, which has been operating on a free trial basis since October last year, is to implement the new service plan from 2pm, the bureau said.
Service hours are to be extended from 9am to 7pm to 7am to 9pm, while service frequency is to be increased from every 30 minutes in each direction to every 10 minutes during peak hours and every 15 minutes during off-peak hours.
Peak hours are from 7am to 8:30am and from 4:30pm to 6:30pm, the bureau added.
The announcement came a week after the line was extended by four stops on June 26, and the bureau said the free trial is expected to continue during the summer school break.
The bureau said it is drafting a fare plan for the tram line, which covers 4.6km over eight stops along the city’s Kaisyuan and Chenggong 2nd roads.
The line is part of an 8.7km, 14-stop system that was scheduled to be completed last month, but has been delayed for one year after the main Taiwanese contractor faced a financial crisis.
The 8.7km line is the first part of the city’s light rail system, which is to eventually run on a circular route after the second phase is completed.
The light-rail system, the first in Taiwan, was designed and built by Spanish company Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles and runs with no wires above the trams.
NT$16.54 billion (US$513.38 million at the current exchange rate) was budgeted for the light-rail system and the city government is in the process of selecting a contractor to build the second phase, which is scheduled to be completed in 2019.
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