The Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) Chairperson and Sinbei mayoral candidate Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) has promised to initiate construction of a far-reaching Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) if elected in November.
Unveiling a new campaign video on the initiative yesterday, campaign spokesperson Luo Chih-cheng (羅致政) said the system would complement future MRT routes and existing transit services.
“The BRT system that we are proposing is special, it is not meant to replace the MRT system, but rather to complement it,” he said.
The first phase of construction on the planned system would include building dedicated bus lanes on major transit corridors. Signal changes would then be revised to synchronize with the BRT vehicles.
A version of the plan proposed by Tsai includes locating fare collection turnstiles in the BRT stations rather than the vehicle itself. That is expected to cut down on travel time and allow greater passenger capacity.
“Our plan is for this system to be cheap, convenient and green,” Luo said.
Tsai’s campaign estimated that the cost for the system would be approximately one-tenth the price of building a full-scale MRT line.
Tsai has proposed that construction of the BRT line begin on Ankeng Road in Sindian City. Her campaign said the road width of 40m, originally set aside for construction of an MRT line, was enough for construction of dedicated bus lanes.
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