To help ease downtown traffic congestion in the aftermath of Typhoon Nari, the Taipei City Government yesterday decided to open the express bus lanes along Chunghsiao East and West roads to all traffic except during the morning rush-hour.
It hopes to begin the measure on Oct. 5.
But an official at the city's Bureau of Transportation admitted that, in the meantime, the situation is likely to get worse -- not better.
PHOTO: LEE HUNG-MING, TAIPEI TIMES
The move is a temporary one, designed to reduce congestion while the mass rapid transit system's Panchiao-Nankang line is inoperative following flooding caused by Nari.
"Since the Panchiao-Nankang line of the mass rapid transit system is still down, we thought the scheme might help alleviate downtown traffic a little bit," Chen Chin-sheng (陳金盛), secretary-general of the city's transport bureau, told the Taipei Times yesterday.
Explaining the Oct. 5. commencement date, Chen said: "It will take time and money to erect road signs, paint markers and promote the new scheme."
Another official, Cheng Chun-ming (
"It's highly likely that traffic on Chunghsiao East and West roads will get worse," he said.
Once operational, the lanes will remain exclusive to buses only between 7am and 9am. They will be open to all traffic outside that period. In the meantime, commuters are encouraged to use the city's bus services rather than drive into the city.
Currently, two bus routes following the MRT's Tamsui-Hsintien and Peitou-Nanshihchiao lines have been opened to help transport the 900,000 passengers who take the MRT daily.
About 200 buses, dispatched two to three minutes apart, are in service between Shihlin and Kungkwan stations. Another 80, also departing two to three minutes apart, shuttle between Chientan and Taipei Railway Station.
The segment between Kuting and Nanshihchiao stations on the Peitou-Nanshihchiao line resumed service yesterday.
The Mucha line, constructed entirely above ground, is unaffected.
Ticket losses on the MRT are estimated at more than NT$20 million per day, according to Taipei Rapid Transit Corp.
The company is still calculating the cost of repairing the flooded areas of the system. Most of the Panchiao-Nankang line is under water.
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