Services on all Taipei MRT metropolitan railway system lines except the Wenshan-Neihu (Brown) Line were reduced starting yesterday amid a steep drop in passenger numbers due to COVID-19, the Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC) announced on Sunday.
Average wait times during off-peak weekday hours — those outside the 7am to 9am and 5pm to 7:30pm time periods — on the Tamsui-Xinyi (Red), Bannan (Blue) and Zhonghe-Xinlu (Orange) lines have increased by between 15 and 30 seconds, TRTC said.
Train frequency during these times on the Songshan-Xindian (Green) Line has been reduced from one every five to seven minutes to one every six to eight minutes, and from every nine to 10 minutes for the Circular (Yellow) line.
Photo: George Tsorng, Taipei Times
On weekends and public holidays, train frequency before 10am and after 8pm has been reduced from one every 4 minutes and 45 seconds to one every nine minutes and 30 seconds on the Red and Blue lines.
Train frequency on the Yellow Line over the weekend and public holidays has been cut from every nine minutes to every 10 minutes.
TRTC said that service frequency on all other lines during these times would remain unchanged, and that more trains might be added in the event of a larger-than-expected increase in passengers.
In light of rising local COVID-19 infections, the company also asked passengers to social distance while riding the trains and to wear a mask at all times.
Taipei’s MRT carried about 1.3 million commuters in the first week of the month, which fell to 1.2 million in the second week and 1.15 million by the third week, TRTC data showed.
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