Taipei's Mucha line, the city's first rapid transit link, celebrated its fifth anniversary yesterday.
Addressing a ceremony held at the Chunghsiao Fuhsing station (
"Since it is the city's first mass transit system, we learned things the hard way," he said. "Fortunately, our efforts eventually paid off."
In 1997 the line received ISO 9002 certification in recognition of its "outstanding service."
The latest poll held by the city's Department of Rapid Transit Systems (DORTS, 捷運工程局) shows that 90 percent of passengers are satisfied with the service, and that 99.3 percent of trains arrive on time.
Construction of the line began in December 1988. Numerous accidents, including fires, computer system shut-downs, lightning strikes and flat tires occurred during the trial period between 1994 and 1996.
The most controversial matter to affect the line, however, was the walkout by the French contractor, Matra Transport.
In 1988, Matra won the contract to build the electrical systems and trains for the Mucha line. It was later forced repeatedly to postpone the project, eventually resulting in what it claimed were heavy cost overruns. Matra then sought NT$2 billion from the DORTS in compensation.
After an eight-year legal battle over compensation, the Supreme Court affirmed on Nov. 24 last year the High Court's decision to award Matra NT$1.25 billion in compensation plus interest to cover the period of the legal proceedings, bringing the total to over NT$1.4 billion.
As a last-ditch effort to reverse the court decision, the city government on Jan. 18 filed a suit of objection against the Supreme Court's order. The court is slated to start the second review of the case today.
Despite the praise, Ma said that there was still room for improvement.
"We'd like to add more trains to the line so that the intervals between trains can be reduced from the current five minutes to two or even less," he said. "We'd also like to see more vehicle and scooter drivers take full advantage of the MRT system."
Statistics show that Taipei has about 1.85 million motor vehicle drivers, over 1 million motor scooter riders, and 900,000 MRT passengers.
The daily transportation volume of the 10.5km Mucha line averages 100,000 people. The line has carried more than 100 million people over the past five years.
Meanwhile, DORTS is now busy preparing for the construction of the 14.8km Neihu extension to the Mucha line.
Taipei City Council finally approved construction of the Neihu extension during its last session, slating it to be an above-ground medium capacity system, like the Mucha line. Neihu is currently the city's only district without access to the MRT.
The construction of the Neihu line has been controversial ever since the Cabinet approved the NT$42.6 billion project in 1993.
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