Ridership on Taipei’s MRT system on New Year’s Eve and early on New Year’s Day shattered all previous records, the Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC) said yesterday.
The system transported about 2.75 million passengers in the 24 hours from 6am on Tuesday to 6am yesterday, up 680,000 from a year earlier, the company said.
Much of the passenger traffic came from the estimated 1.16 million people who flocked to the New Year’s Eve countdown party outside Taipei City Hall.
Photo: Huang Chih-yuan, Taipei Times
The festive bash, which started at 7pm on Tuesday, showcased top musical celebrities, such as girl group S.H.E.
The massive crowd also enjoyed a 218-second fireworks show at Taipei 101, one of the most anticipated New Year’s fireworks shows anywhere in the world.
TRTC attributed the large jump in ridership to the MRT’s new Xinyi Line, which brings passengers to the foot of the 508m skyscraper.
The line, which began service on Nov. 24, carried 245,000 passengers over the 24-hour period, while 524,000 passengers took the Bannan Line, which connects Taipei City Hall to Nangang (南港) and New Taipei City’s (新北市) Banciao (板橋). Even with the increased ridership on New Year’s Eve, the metro system had cleared all passengers attending the party outside Taipei 101 by 2:05am, 40 minutes earlier than last year, TRTC said.
The company said it deployed more than 1,100 workers, police officers and volunteers at several stations on the Xinyi and Bannan lines to help keep the crowds orderly and shorten the time needed to get the revelers home.
MRT trains, which usually operate until just after midnight and resume operations at 6am, ran through early yesterday morning and would have run for 42 consecutive hours by the time the lines closed early this morning.
The nation ushered in the new year yesterday with a bang at the stroke of midnight, with fireworks shows lighting up cities and counties. Popular rock group Mayday (五月天), electropop diva Jeannie Hsieh (謝金燕) and singer Jam Hsiao (蕭敬騰) were among the stars who launched countdown parties.
Mayday opened the celebrations to screaming fans at Greater Kaohsiung’s Dream Mall with a 40-minute performance.
At the Taipei 101 New Year’s Eve Countdown, Hsieh wore an eye-catching short red dress as she performed an energetic opening to the series of shows.
As of 8pm, close to 200,000 revelers had flooded the event, organizers said, while large crowds were being reported in other countdown parties across the nation.
Before the Taipei 101 event began, crowds were treated to a 10-minute performance by the Ministry of National Defense Symphony Orchestra and members of the Armed Forces Honor Guard, who showcased their rifle-spinning and drumming skills.
S.H.E. were the last to perform, giving a one-hour performance featuring several of their most popular songs.
In Greater Kaohsiung, Singaporean singer J.J. Lin (林俊傑) led the final seconds before the countdown, while singer Elva Hsiao (蕭亞軒) was the last to take the stage at another major party at the city’s E-Da World theme park.
WANG RELEASED: A police investigation showed that an organized crime group allegedly taught their clients how to pretend to be sick during medical exams Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) and 11 others were released on bail yesterday, after being questioned for allegedly dodging compulsory military service or forging documents to help others avoid serving. Wang, 33, was catapulted into stardom for his role in the coming-of-age film Our Times (我的少女時代). Lately, he has been focusing on developing his entertainment career in China. The New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office last month began investigating an organized crime group that is allegedly helping men dodge compulsory military service using falsified documents. Police in New Taipei City Yonghe Precinct at the end of last month arrested the main suspect,
A cat named Mikan (蜜柑) has brought in revenue of more than NT$10 million (US$305,390) for the Kaohsiung MRT last year. Mikan, born on April 4, 2020, was a stray cat before being adopted by personnel of Kaohsiung MRT’s Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station. Mikan was named after a Japanese term for mandarin orange due to his color and because he looks like an orange when curled up. He was named “station master” of Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station in September 2020, and has since become famous. With Kaohsiung MRT’s branding, along with the release of a set of cultural and creative products, station master Mikan
LITTORAL REGIMENTS: The US Marine Corps is transitioning to an ‘island hopping’ strategy to counterattack Beijing’s area denial strategy The US Marine Corps (USMC) has introduced new anti-drone systems to bolster air defense in the Pacific island chain amid growing Chinese military influence in the region, The Telegraph reported on Sunday. The new Marine Air Defense Integrated System (MADIS) Mk 1 is being developed to counter “the growing menace of unmanned aerial systems,” it cited the Marine Corps as saying. China has constructed a powerful defense mechanism in the Pacific Ocean west of the first island chain by deploying weapons such as rockets, submarines and anti-ship missiles — which is part of its anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) strategy against adversaries — the
Eleven people, including actor Darren Wang (王大陸), were taken into custody today for questioning regarding the evasion of compulsory military service and document forgery, the New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said. Eight of the people, including Wang, are suspected of evading military service, while three are suspected of forging medical documents to assist them, the report said. They are all being questioned by police and would later be transferred to the prosecutors’ office for further investigation. Three men surnamed Lee (李), Chang (張) and Lin (林) are suspected of improperly assisting conscripts in changing their military classification from “stand-by
RSS