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Rethinking Taichung¡¦s ambitious MRT
plans
By Lin Chia-lung ªL¨ÎÀs
Monday, Feb 01, 2010, Page 8
¡¥Taichung should avoid rushing into an investment of more than NT$50 billion to
build an elevated MRT system that will only dart above Wensin Road.¡¦
In 1996, the first stage of a plan to improve Seattle¡¦s public transport system
was approved by a referendum. The initiative, known as Sound Move, featured
varied modes of transportation, including light rail, commuter trains and rapid
bus transit for approximately 200,000 passengers each day.
More than a decade later, on Nov. 4, 2008, a debt plan, Sound Transit, was
passed in another referendum on improving public transport. The program sought
to improve the service, scope and functions of public transport over a period of
15 years. More than NT$560 billion (US$17.5 billion) was invested and it was
estimated that 358,000 passengers would be using the system daily by 2030.
This is the city Taichung Mayor Jason Hu (J§Ó±j) wanted to emulate when he took
office and the reason he wanted an MRT system. But does this comparison make
sense?
Seattle City has a population of 600,000, compared with Taichung¡¦s 1 million,
and a land area 2.2 times larger than Taichung. The Municipality of Metropolitan
Seattle has a population of 2.7 million and a land area almost 2.2 times the
size of Taichung City and County combined.
A well-planned mass transport system is a long-term project ¡X and an important
investment in enhancing city life. Building and improving mass transport systems
are no small matter for any city, and residents should have adequate
opportunities to participate in the decision-making process.
In Taichung, however, residents and even city councilors have been left out of
the planning, design and construction of Taichung¡¦s Green Line, which some
people jokingly refer to as the Taipei MRT¡¦s ¡§Taichung spur line¡¨ because the
central government, the Taipei City Government and the Taichung City Government
settled the details among themselves more than a year ago.
It is very hard to praise the Taichung City Government¡¦s approach when we
compare how Hu angrily told Taichung residents that the central government had
given him only two choices ¡X an elevated MRT or no MRT at all ¡X with the way
Seattle¡¦s public transport has developed in stages spread out over years with
large amounts of investment.
The approach of the Taichung City Government is even more disappointing when one
considers that Taichung City and County are about to merge.
Seattle residents participated in decisions through a series of public policy
debates, forums and referendums.
Taichung should avoid rushing into an investment of more than NT$50 billion to
build an elevated MRT system that will only dart above Wensin Road, especially
as it is about to merge with Taichung County and as the system could lose
several hundred million NT dollars every year. Taichung would do better to spend
that money on other things.
Lin Chia-lung is secretary-general of the Association for the
Promotion of Greater Taichung.
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