The current LED signs provide real time information right now.
This is increasing complexity because technology shiny. Increased costs, increased maintenance, increased failures. And the tendency to go towards cheap single board computers not meant for the rough and tumble of being on a bus and Taiwan’s weather conditions mean that failures are bound to be plentiful.
Sanchung Bus as I have railed against multiple times blocked their simple and reliable LED matrix display with these stupid LCD monitors that either fail to turn on or fail to boot into the OS at least ONE OUT OF EVERY TWO TIMES I get on the bus.
Not everything has to be fancy high tech for the sake of being fancy. Sometimes simple works just fine. We don’t have to Japonify EVERYTHING. We have to pay for it. We should spend money on meaningfully positive impacts to quality of life, not a fancy way to tell me the bus is still 55 minutes away!
If you gave me a fancy expensive bus or train that comes every 30 minutes or a Philippine Jeepney that comes every 2 minutes, I’ll take the Jeepney!
It’s like the idiots in my high school that voted for Flat Panel LCDs in a schoolwide referendum in the hallways instead of new barbecues. They sit there and just broadcast school propaganda and catholic propaganda.
I hate LCD displays on some buses, most notably 880. They work about 1 out of 10 bus rides. Most the time the screen is either not working at all, or somehow it’s stuck on a blue screen of death.
Back when we were young the bus would clatter on at high speed and we would pay attention to where we were at all times and make (push shove and squeeze) our way to the door a stop before
When I was in Austin I used to take the 801 bus north to buy groceries from some asian market. The road it drives on is in such a bad shape, even with the relatively advanced bus’s suspension system the bus shakes like crazy. It was impossible to fall asleep on the bus.
Taichung bus drivers’ in a rush like behavior finally reported on the news, opening the doors way too early, accelerated as soon as people get one foot on or closing doors too early or driving off before closing the doors. It has been shit like this for a decade at least.
I’ve been 15 years in Taiwan and today was the first day I saw a women driving the bus.
What a nice surprise!
Driving much more careful and smooth than men drivers I’ve seen before.
Hopefully this becomes a trend!
First time I’ve ever taken a city bus, and it was a great experience! I’ve taken the 和欣 for transit between Tainan and the airport in Taoyuan, but that’s a different kind of bus.
I needed to visit an intern in Taoyuan and found that her school was about 35 to 45 minutes from the HSR. A taxi or Uber would have cost about 800 NTD each way. For the same length of time and only 59 NTD, the local bus was the obvious solution.
I was a bit intimated due to the posts in this thread. However, from a little research I knew to add some money to my EasyCard (or whatever it’s called). Some observations:
super polite driver. He let me on the bus early and was very informative and patient in explaining the process of swiping my card to get on and off.
careful driving, although part of the journey was on a freeway, so a bit fast
waited for everyone to be seated before accelerating. The starting and stopping was very smooth.
the electronic announcement sign at the bus stops was not that accurate (but within a few minutes). I soon figured out that you need to wave down the buses quite obviously.
the drivers were nice, but a couple of passengers were a-holes. Arriving at the HSR (return leg), I clearly asked if this was the last stop (in Mandarin) since it was a totally different location that the departure terminal. I asked a couple of passengers and they just totally ignored me. The only negative part of my journey.
Keelung Bus has joined the growing list of bus companies that are raising their fares. Starting April 15, it will raise rates on four routes by NT$1 to NT$10. An alliance of bus operators is proposing further fare adjustments, arguing that current price caps force them to lose money with every trip.
Just remember the 1200nt north taiwan pass is going to be offered that includes all buses and train and mrt for Keelung, Taipei, and taoyuan. If you got that pass the fare hike will be irrelevant
What’s with all the braking when turning at intersections? My guess is bus drivers are now required to yield to pedestrians at intersections by stopping first. The thing is most of them do it perfunctorily, and pedestrians know it. Most people dare not cross even when a bus slows down in front of them as if giving way.
I took a intercity bus today (New Taipei - > Taipei) and several seats were marked “reserved”.
What’s this about?
It’s still a regular bus and I still had to swipe my Easy Card twice. So what are those reserved seats for?
