Trams in TW

Nice trams in Taiwan (Kaoshiung) ! Can anyone guess other city where the trams look the same as the ones here in Taiwan (see photos)?

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Melbourne! Trams are awesome there. Would never work in Taipei. Not enough people following road rules…

Looks like quite a few!

Yes Melbourne ! Love the trams there in Melbourne and now in Kaohsiung !

Also kind of similar to MAX trains in Portland.

AFAIK the project was done by some Spanish company.

Yes they have the same trams running in some Spanish cities supposedly.

would be great if they had them in taipei.

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I think the Tamshui extension are some kind of trams?
Also Ankeng ?
Could be wrong though .

The Danshui tracks are elevated, or at least all the stretches I’ve seen are elevated.

One line will be elevated, the other street level.

Ohhhhh, trams not trans, or trans on trams.

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i don’t know how they came up with the idea of trams in taiwan could work.
i just can’t see how they can run profitable, or for the sake of it, how they can lose less money than the kaohsiung mrt.

moreover, i see many future tram accidents coming if they don’t barricade each and every intersection rigorously. so far, it doesn’t seem like that.

looks like some kaohsiung official went to europe and saw all those nice trams and thought this would be a nice marketing gag for kaohsiung too. needless to say, even in european cities trams do crash with pedestrians, cars or whatever every so often.

They don’t need to be profitable , lots of public works are not profitable such as the vast road network and flood control network in Taiwan.
Think about it.

Also much of the Tamshui and Ankeng lines are segregated or elevated . They are a very nice addition to public infrastructure.

The Kaohsiung mrt is not profitable mainly because it’s just two lines at the moment. It hasn’t benefited from network effects in the same manner as the Taipei MRT.
They simply need more lines .

That said the Taipei MRT is not profitable if you take into account the massive capital expenditures. It has sucked up trillions of our tax dollars and added government debt.

I happen to think the Kaohsiung tram lines are very forward looking and a really great addition to the city with harbour views, helping to redevelop those areas. They have been running sometime already , people get used to them and adjust their behaviour.

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As of 2014 the Taipei MRT cost 11 trillion NTD in fixed asset and capital expenditure.

https://www.google.com.tw/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www-ws.gov.taipei/001/Upload/public/Attachment/592417381848.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwihrq3oisDaAhXEI5QKHURxAXwQFjAKegQIBRAB&usg=AOvVaw1bZ3zqD6iniqjlFziaqNuz

According to this article the KMRT has started turning a profit:

I’ve ridden the tram in Kaohsiung a few times and thought it was quite nice…except most people couldn’t figure out if they had to pay or not.

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depends how good the service is i guess. i’ve ridden good and bad trams. the ding ding trams in hong kong are the best ones i’ve been on. very frequent, convenient and also fun. i’ve been on others that were slow and pointless.

if they were in a good location i think taiwanese people would use them, because taiwanese people are too lazy to walk so something like a tram that covers short distances would be useful for locals. well, if they could fuck the scooters off but thats never going to happen.

Use of Taipei MRT is still to low, mainly because private vehicles are too cheap to run. The Taipei government have been making rumblings about expanding paid parking for a while now.

Ridership is increasing every year.

However, so are the registered drivers. (Not sure why they stopped reporting stats after 2010)

https://tpcmv.thb.gov.tw/Uploads/7driver(eng).pdf

Quite clear that there’s been an increase on both ends, but how are we actually comparing it? Percentage of Taipei population? I’m just a bit curious how you came to the conclusion that ridership in the MRT is low.

Im trying to find the exact study.

This article is ok http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2016/02/17/2003639579/1

The percentage of citizens using MRT for commutes everyday is something like 15% compared to 45% in New York. It is still well underused. As mentioned in the article, bus users became mrt users but motorists are still rising.

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