Public transportation accounted for 18.1 percent of all travel last year, the highest since data became available in 2009, a Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MOTC) report said yesterday.
The figure was 0.2 percentage points higher than in 2015 and up 1.8 percentage points from when the survey was first conducted in 2009.
Rides of less than 500m were excluded from the survey and public transportation was defined as including buses, trains, domestic flights and ferries.
Within Taiwan, public transportation was most widely used in Taipei, accounting for 42.8 percent of all rides, followed by Keelung at 39.8 percent and New Taipei City at 33.8 percent, the survey found.
Public transportation usage was at its lowest in Chiayi City, accounting for only 4.9 percent of all rides taken, the survey found.
The survey also found that public railroad usage has been growing steadily in recent years, thanks to the expansion of rail networks.
Railroad use last year accounted for 6.6 percent of all vehicle rides in Taiwan, compared with 4.8 percent in 2009.
The results suggest that the government should improve transfer services connecting rail lines to encourage the public to use public transportation more often.
The increasing use of public transportation has curbed people’s interest in private vehicles, the report found, with private vehicle use accounting for 70.6 percent of all rides last year, down 0.7 percentage points from the previous year.
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