The Taipei City Government yesterday apologized for the chaotic traffic on Roosevelt Road caused by the launch of exclusive bus lanes and decided to adjust bus routes to ease the problem.
The exclusive bus lanes on Roosevelt Road, launched on Saturday, caused a serious traffic jam around the Gongguan (
Taipei City Transportation commissioner Jason Lin
PHOTO: LIAO CHEN-HUEI, TAIPEI TIMES
"We do owe residents an apology for the inconvenience and for causing traffic delays ? We overlooked some small problems, but I believe the situation should be under control once the routes are adjusted," he said yesterday morning during a municipal meeting at the city hall.
Eight bus routes
In line with the launch of the new bus lanes, the department changed the bus stops of eight bus routes, namely, 0-South, 52, 284, 253, 290, 642, 109 and Jingmei (
The department also plans to require school buses or private companies' commuter buses to use the bus lanes during rush hours after work.
The Roosevelt Road bus lanes took the place of the underpass on Keelung Road, which used to connect the traffic between Sindian (新店) in Taipei County and the city.
Aside from the heavy traffic caused by the switch from the underpass, the relocation of the bus stops confused many passengers.
The traffic chaos also irritated Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (
"Local residents, media and transportation experts had warned the city government three months ago about the traffic problems with the bus lanes. How could department officials fail to see the extent of the problem beforehand?" the Taipei mayor said during the municipal meeting.
Apathy
The "apathy" of the department officials with regard to the issue of bus lanes, Ma said, did not only cause traffic problems for the residents, but also damaged the image of the city government.
Lin argued that the traffic jam was a "temporary, initial labor pain."
But Ma rejected this argument as an excuse and urged the department to "foresee all potential problems and solve them all at once, so that the residents won't even need to experience the pain."
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