Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC) yesterday unveiled a mobile app that shows how crowded MRT trains are, allowing people to avoid cars that are near capacity.
The app, which has Chinese and English-language versions, is being trialed on the Bannan Line (Blue Line), it said.
TRTC has installed pressure sensors in each car of the Blue Line’s 42 trains, with the load data on each section to be uploaded to the Go! Taipei Metro (台北捷運GO) app, on which people can view ridership estimates for each car, it said.
Photo: CNA
The app would rank each car as “comfortable,” “normal,” “slightly packed,” or “packed,” with green, yellow, orange and red the respective color codes for each category, it said.
People would be able to wait at the door for cars that show the best condition, the company said.
The information would also be shown on the TV displays at platforms, it said.
It launched the service after it was introduced in countries including Japan, South Korea, China and the UK, it said.
TRTC vice president Huang Chin-hsin (黃清信) said that after six months of research and development, the system has a 90 percent accuracy rate, with staff monitoring data collection and providing assistance when abnormalities arise.
The Bannan Line has the highest ridership of the Taipei MRT’s routes, carrying about 520,000 people on Wednesday, Huang said, adding that the app would also add data for trains on the Wenhu Line (Brown Line), depending on the results of the trial on the Blue Line.
Some passengers said that the system would be more useful for people who ride the MRT less often, as regular riders know without the app which cars to board.
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