Falls from what, exactly? I gather that free trial period was a mob scene. Has it fallen to sanity?
Yep. General consensus is that now that is has gone from free to 50% off -you pay, like, 50 to 70 ntd- there are “less” people. Still, they expect ridership of 100 thousand people per day.
Mark my words. This weekend -which we are supposed to have good weather- it is going to be a mob scene again. As I tell my coworker, when she says we are traveling “like sardines”, I reply “more like a deck of cards”. That tight.
I know somebody who rode it from Taipei to Zhongli (the second to last stop, at the go-kart track) on Tuesday this week and he said with the wait, the total trip was almost 3 hours.
Walking is free. Terminals are connected and you don’t even notice when entering the next one. I recently checked into terminal 2 and walked to my gate in terminal 1.
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I arrived from Bangkok last night and rode it in to Taipei Main. Comfy ride. Very similar to Hong Kong’s system, though HK’s is faster, straighter, and smoother. Better than Bangkok’s Airport Rail Link, though I’ve never taken the express. One drawback of this system is it has some sharp turns so it has to slow down considerably. Still, it beats road transport by a country mile.
Next time I hope to ride out during the day so I can see out the window.
As for why have the free rides: it gets novelty riders out of the way, so by the time of its official opening it’s not mobbed. I remember I rode the Brown Line for free when it first opened in 1996: now that was a novelty! Being able to traverse Taipei without worrying about traffic or red lights was a totally new experience back then.
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^According to the video the view outside the window is not very pleasing to the eyes.
I was pretty impressed with the view of New Taipei Bridge, especially when the structure is silhouetted against the setting sun. The new MRT may just turn it into an iconic Taipei landmark.
Rideship went from 52 thousand the firts day of operations -first month is still half-price- to 100 thousand firts Saturday.
Taipei, March 3 (CNA) The mass rapid transit (MRT) line connecting Taipei and Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport transported about 52,000 passengers the previous day, its first day of commercial operation, Taoyuan Metro Corp. announced on Friday.
The company said the number indicates public confidence in the service and estimates that daily passenger volume will be about 45,000 after the half-price discount period ends on April 1.
However, that still represents a significant drop from the 80,000 passengers recorded daily from Feb. 2 to March 2, during the free trial run period for the Airport MRT.
Then:
Passengers took a total of more than 100,000 rides on Saturday, with Taipei Main Station accounting for 27,000, Linkou Station (A9) accounting for 12,000 and Taoyuan HSR Station (A18) accounting for 8,000 being the top three stations, the TMC said.
Compared with the more than 80,000 average free rides on the AMRT line per day during the trial operation, the number of more than 50,000 paid rides on the first day is considered pretty high, the metro corporation said.
Combined rides at the Terminal 1 Station (A12) and the Airport Terminal 2 Station (A13) have been usually around 10,000, while around 15,000 rides per day have been registered at the Taipei Main Station, the TMC said, adding that the fact shows the role the new MRT line plays as an important transportation link between the metropolitan areas and the airport is evident, the TMC said.
The combined daily rides at the National Taiwan Sport University (A7), Chang Gung Memorial Hospital Station (A8) and Linkou Station usually totaling 10,000, or about 20 percent of the total daily services of the whole line, shows the AMRT has been serving as an important commuter line for residents in the Linkou area, the AMRT managing company said.
So far, so good.