Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) on Wednesday defended new subway cars for the Wenhu (Brown) Line that remove most seating in the hopes of increasing capacity on the perennially crowded line.
Taipei Rapid Transit Corp on Tuesday began trials of an updated interior design for the older VAL256 rolling stock, which removes the 12 seats from the center while keeping the eight priority seats at the ends.
During the trial, only two of the four carriages have been changed.
Photo courtesy of Taipei Rapid Transit Corp
The company estimates the change would raise capacity from 400 to 420 passengers per train.
It follows another alteration to the newer BT370 rolling stock in January that removed some seating and luggage racks.
The design attracted criticism from some city councilors, who after trialing the new carriages on Wednesday said the design was unfriendly.
Removing most of the seats is inconvenient to elderly people and those in need, Taipei City Councilor Ho Meng-hua (何孟樺) wrote on Facebook, adding that it was “treating the symptoms rather than the cause” of congestion.
The main reasons people cite for not wanting to ride the Brown Line aside from inconvenience is a lack of seating and crowding, she said, adding that the change would make people’s commute even less comfortable.
She also questioned whether the carriages were tested for the increased weight, as the Brown Line was not designed for such high capacity.
Ahead of a morning meeting with borough wardens, Chiang told reporters that the increased capacity would enable commuters to reach their destination faster during peak times.
The city government has been adopting every strategy to ease congestion, including building a new ring line to service the Neihu Science Park (內湖科技園區) — hopefully to begin construction within the next two years — and adding more trains during peak hours, he added.
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