I’m with @Belgian_Pie here. The second-generation seating design is terrible, in my opinion far worse than the design of the Matra trains.
Guy
We consider those normal and the ones on other trains children seats.
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Well “we” consider them ridiculously bulky, wasting space left and right and behind the seated passengers too.
The only other seats I can think of that are as badly designed are the amateurishly arranged seats on the Taoyuan MRT Express trains, which might well take the Gold Medal for dumb design.
Guy
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Reason why I still prefer pay something more and take hsr to taoyuan and then the very short ride to the airport. Even express trains r weird. And there is always a strange stench on them, no idea why. Every single time I ride on them, like rancid humidity/dampness.
Ass size matters.
Taoyuan Airport MRT Line set to open new MRT station tomorrow in Zhongli, the LaoJie River station.
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Is that between the existing terminus and Zhongli TRA station?
Edit, I should have looked at the map, yes it is.
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Yup! After this station opens the last one to be opened will be the final station Zhongli which if I remember right will have the MRT station on the South side of the train station which has fortunately been renovated and looks a lot nicer. I remember Zhongli TRA station being voted the ugliest in all of Taiwan but I don’t think that front side has changed at all if I remember right.
I don’t really go to Zhongli anymore but this is great as this new station is much closer to the downtown area. It’s roughly a 10-15 minute walk from the train station area.
Here’s the google map location of the new LaoJie River station.
News piece from 2 weeks ago.
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I haven’t been there for a few years, but yes the front (MRT line side) looked a mess, not helped either with one of the streets dug up for what I gather is part of the Zhongli Metro station - been taking forever though.
The A22 LaoJie River station has officially opened today. Passengers will be able to take the Taoyuan Airport MRT line all the way to Taipei from LaoJie River station to Taipei Main station in 1hr. 24min. Slower than the TRA (50-55min.) but depending on where you are going will be quicker or more convenient.
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That’s actually within walking distance of quite a few interest items and not a bad stroll to the train station
Nova Electronics market, night market, the park where they have traditional holiday events and Christmas light ups and things, the river and other bars, KTVs, shopping…
Really depends on where you’re coming from because that’s a loooong ride from Taipei station.
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I’ve ridden in the seatless carriage just once since they introduced it. Oh yes, there was a lot of extra room alright, but the problem was people were still congregating at the doors. So I had to fight my way through a crowd to get to the empty space in the middle. People need to change their habit for this to be effective. If everybody wants to be the first to get off the train, you’ll always going to have congestion at the doors. No wonder you hear the platform guards yell “Move to the center of the car!” during peak times.
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What’s worse is all the people congregating at the doors are preventing people from getting off.
Sometimes you gotta push to get off. It sucks but it’s either that or get stuck.
I’m wondering if there’s a train shortage because some very crowded lines have very few trains (like danshui) creating dangerous overcrowding.
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I also havent been to Zhongli in quite some time but that exit is right next to the old abandoned Sogo, right? Looks like it from the video. Is that area undergoing gentrification? Last time I have been there is 3-4 years ago and I think to remember that it was quite dodgy in the alleys around that building.
Yea taoyuan mrt is freaking slow, and if you’re riding it without tpass, extremely expensive. What’s worse is express trains will not go all the way to the end but it looks like that might change as the thing on the express train seems to now include huanbei and taoyuan hsr station, so maybe in the future express service might extend there.
If not on a tpass taking tra will be faster and cheaper, but tra local train runs every 20 minutes or more.
I do believe, but it is a hunch, once zhongli station opens, the express service will be extended past the airport. it makes no sense not to have an express service to the closest HSR station.
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I saw an article about mrt trains being so hot that it was stinking of sweat and such. I’ve tried avoiding riding the mrt for this reason because too often the trains are too hot.
Anyways in the article the government said that the temperature restriction only applied to stations, not trains.
I’m noticing the trains are cooler now. Maybe they got the message?
What? Is that true? The Kaohsiung MRT is always nicely air conditioned, but the stations are hot as hell. They don’t turn on the AC outside of peak hours, even in the summer.
Red line is the worst. Often the outdoor station is cooler than the trains.
I think someone is trying to mess with communities served by the red line, because despite being a very populated line the service frequency is crap, in addition to red line trains often too hot.
This is when orange line is getting one train every 4 minutes during rush hour.
I don’t find the MRT trains particularly hot, including those on the red line. I find it hard to believe they’re warmer than the outdoor stations as TL claims.
I’d sometimes prefer trains to be one or two degrees cooler, but I do like my AC on the cold side.
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