Tue, Mar 11, 2008 page2

• FEATURE: New MRT faces challenge of breaking age-old habits

  • By Flora Wang / STAFF REPORTER
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  As many as 210,000 people packed the stations of the Kaohsiung Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) system's Red Line following its official opening on Sunday afternoon.

  Non-Kaohsiung residents might find it difficult to understand why witnessing the launch of the MRT line on Sunday was such a spine-tingling experience for local residents.

  For people in the nation's second-biggest city, the concept of "public transportation" never really meant much.

  

  Above: The Kaohsiung MRT Central Park Station, designed by architect Richard Rogers, is pictured on Friday.

  PHOTO: FLORA WANG, TAIPEI TIMES

  The city has some 400 buses running on 92 routes and limited coaches providing service to passengers traveling to the townships of Kaohsiung and Pingtung counties.

  However, using the bus system has always been a painful experience for people in Kaohsiung, with many saying it is an inefficient and inconvenient way to get around.

  "In the past, we usually had to wait at the bus stop for more than 30 minutes before a bus came," said Ivy Lee (李謹薇), a 27-year-old who grew up in Kaohsiung.

  

  A newly wed couple have their wedding pictures taken at a MRT station in Kaohsiung yesterday. Several newly-wed couples have descended on stations along the Red Line to have their wedding photos taken since the system launched operations on Sunday.

  PHOTO: CHANG CHUNG-YI, TAIPEI TIMES

  Lee's experience is shared by many.

  Even following years of efforts by the city government to improve the bus system, it still takes about 90 minutes to travel from the southern part of the city -- Kaohsiung International Airport, for example -- to Nanzih (楠梓) district, the city's northernmost point, by bus.

  But the MRT north-south Red Line is about to change all that.

  During a tour of the Red Line for the media on Friday, Vivian Wu (吳孟嬪), junior administrator of the Kaohsiung Rapid Transit Corp's (KRTC) Public Affairs Department's Media Communication Section, said that traveling from one end of the Red Line to the other -- from Xiaogang (小港) to Chiaotou (橋頭) in Kaohsiung County (the Gangshan [岡山] South Station, the last stop in the north end, is still under construction) -- takes about 45 minutes.

  After a six-year-and-four-month wait, Kaohsiung residents' dream of an efficient public transport system has finally come true.

  The Red Line is the nation's first rapid transit route to provide a direct link to an international airport, a major Taiwan Railway station, a high speed rail station and a ferry station.

  The construction of the entire system, including the Red Line and the east-to-west Orange Line, began on Oct. 24, 2001.

  The NT$181.5 billion (US$5.9 billion) system was scheduled to begin operation on Oct. 20 last year, but several cave-ins during construction of the Orange Line delayed progress.

  The maiden voyage, spanning seven stops on the northern part of the Red Line, was held during the Lunar New Year holiday.

  As Deputy Kaohsiung Mayor Chiu Tai-san (邱太三) told journalists from Taipei on Thursday, the free Lunar New Year ride attracted 400,000 people over four days.

  Kaohsiung residents were also treated to the system's unique and ingenious fusion of art and public transport for the first time over the weekend following the illumination of the world's largest public glass art work -- the Dome of Light -- at the Formosa Boulevard Station on Friday.

  "We hope the experience of the artwork at KRTC stations is something passengers will take home with them," Chiu said, adding that this was the main difference between the rapid transit systems in Taipei and Kaohsiung.

  Indeed, art, or more specifically glass arkwork created by renowned international artists such as Italian maestro Narcissus Quagliata -- the creator of the dome -- and German-born artist Lutz Haufschild are the additional highlights of a tour of the transit route.

  Passengers arriving at the city by air will immediately be taken by the world's largest 3D glass sculpture -- the Emerald Laminata -- created by Haufschild on the walls at the Kaohsiung International Airport Station.

  Unlike artifacts in a museum, the artwork is easily accessible and touchable.

  "In society, most of the things are for utility, for being used. The use of art is to teach people

  how to enjoy their life," Quagliata told the Taipei Times.

  "Kaohsiung is undergoing a major transformation from an industrial city to a city focusing on recreation and culture," Chiu said.

  That transformation, however, is expected to take years because the inefficient bus transport system has created a unique commuting culture in Kaohsiung.

  Statistics from the city's Bureau of Transportation showed that the utility rate of the city's public transportation system has been stable at 5 percent over the past several decades.

  The city, with a population of 1.5 million people, has the largest number of registered scooters in Taiwan -- about 1.2 million.

  "Scooters are very convenient for getting around downtown. It may be faster and more comfortable to ride on the MRT, but I have become accustomed to getting around by scooter. I can also go many places that the MRT does not go to," Lee said.

  Wang E-cheng (王貽諍), another young Kaohsiung resident, said she would not give up commuting by scooter because finding parking space in the city remains easy.

  "To me, the MRT is more like a convenient means of transportation for people visiting Kaohsiung," Wang said.

  Chiu acknowledged the difficulty in changing people's perception of public transportation.

  "We must provide residents with incentives [to take the rapid transit system] to change their lifestyle," Chiu said, adding that the city government has launched shuttle buses services to and from the MRT stations.

  He told the Taipei Times that the city government was also considering reducing the number of scooters on the roads by clamping down on illegal parking and on scooters that cause too much pollution.
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