If you’re at all familiar with Taipei then you’ll find the deliberate lack of accuracy jarring. This map ain’t for you.
But if you’re a tourist here for the first time, you just need to know how to get from A to B, it doesn’t make any difference to you that things aren’t really where the map says they are.
It makes more sense on a complicated system. See how straightforward Paris looks…
…compared to the official version…
Seems like the circle version is just how to get from station to station, with no sense of geographical accuracy. It makes it easier to find the transfer stations and identify different lines. Though, I tend to prefer geographical accuracy on map so I know which part of town I’ll end up in.
BTW, the MRT website has a function that tells you the time it takes to travel between stations.
I find Google mostly accurate but occassionally oopsie on that regard.
It’s pretty as a piece of art but that’s all.
Confusing, less intuitive, almost difficult to understand.
It’s been tried before in other countries long ago who realized it isn’t good. I think London and maybe Paris both tried it 50-year more years ago.
But Taiwan flips the maps around to different directions inside the MRT and that is also confusing, less intuitive, and extremely difficult to understand. One wall will have north at the top and then the other wall will have North at the bottom. So when you walk across to a different map, it’s been flipped to a different direction depending on which way they think you’re facing.
That’s what I really hate. For people like me who think spatially, that’s a total fail. It seems like most locals think linearly when it comes to directions though, as a series of commands like you get from a GPS…turn left, then turn right at next light, etc. So maybe the orientation of the maps doesn’t make any difference for them?
i agree that map flipping in the MRT stations doesn’t make any sense. its autistic. who thought that was a good idea??
The MRT is also not that big. Apart from the flipping thing, is anyone confused ?
It’s the same in Tokyo. It seems to be an Asian thing.
Really not a problem once you get used to it. It’s a different logic, but it is logical.
^Cet plan est votre ami à Paris.
But it wouldn’t make sense here. There aren’t that many monuments, might as well just use the official one.
There seem to be a lot of these “netizens” in Taiwan and China.
But you don’t understand! The round map respects natural law. The Yellow Emperor must be smiling. 
With the airport line to start a trial run tomorrow before its official launch on March 2, Tsai said public transportation will reach a new milestone with the opening of the line, which brings Taoyuan into the MRT era.
The trial run is to be conducted in two phases. From tomorrow to Feb. 15, the line will be open to groups from government agencies and other organizations with advanced reservations.
From Feb. 16 through March 1, it will be opento the public from 8am to 4pm daily.
Feb 16 - Mar 1 is open to all, but passes are being dripped out in limited quantities at specific times so it’s not too practical for getting to the airport during those 2 weeks.
Will the new airport MRT operate 24 hours a day so available to use for all flights?
Nope. Until 11pm only.
A friend of mine who works for the company in charge of the airport line told me that the cars purchased to run on it are too long, and this means that if the tracks aren’t inspected at frequent intervals, the resulting extra wear will eventually result in a derailing at speed, which could be catastrophic on those high-level tracks.
They have already had one rail crack completely in half. And that’s the one that actually was reported in the news. Who knows what else is going on.
Hopefully the company that manages it won’t adopt the Taiwanese management style. That would be a very big PR disaster for Taiwan to have a train between the airport and Taipei go off the tracks. I wouldn’t think that they would be that stupid.
Depends. As said, the bigger the loss, the higher the personal gain.
Hows the Airport MRT running now that it isnt free? is it still packed?
