Bus trouble in Hsinchu
According to the Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper), after the Hsinchu Bus Co announced a sudden reduction in bus services, Hsinchu Mayor Ann Kao (高虹安) failed to make any adjustments. All she did was gloss over it in her executive reports. Neither did she field any questions regarding it. Today, a small bus for 20 people is usually crammed with 40 passengers. This has also affected my life.
A few days ago, I was waiting for a bus from Hsinchu Park heading toward the City God Temple (城隍廟). Due to the reduction, the bus was delayed. National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University students coming from other cities asked me what happened to the bus.
As a Hsinchu resident, I felt embarrassed for the Hsinchu City Government. Finally, the bus came, however, what we saw dumbstruck us. Kao has proudly promoted the project of turning all city buses electric, but the new electric bus did not work properly. Only one of the doors opened because a card reader was only installed at the front door. Additionally, city buses are consistently delayed, services are now reduced, ever fewer passengers can board buses and they are almost always packed. Passengers who need to alight have to squeeze their way through first, after which new passengers board the already packed bus. This worsens the delay. Some buses can no longer take new passengers and the drivers simply drive past the bus stops.
According to the Ministry of Transportation and Communications’ Performance Assessment Ordinance of Mass Transit (大眾運輸營運與服務評鑑辦法), the supervising agency should specify the criteria for assessing its mass transit system. Yet the Hsinchu City Government has been too lazy to lay out relevant regulations for city buses, much less organize a committee to start the process.
I submitted a complaint to the Control Yuan earlier this year demanding that the Hsinchu City Government change the situation. Yet the government has done nothing. In addition to other legal violations, the Hsinchu City Government disregards mass transit funding.
Consequently, under Kao’s administration, buses in “technological Hsinchu” are far from technological. Only one of the doors can open, services are reduced, delays are common and operations are liable to be disrupted, with grumpy drivers yelling at passengers.
I would like to tell Kao that I want to take buses, but I know she cannot hear me. Voters in Hsinchu should voice our needs in the coming election. We should work together to bring back the Hsinchu City that we used to be proud of.
Cheng Yin-hung
Hsinchu City
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