Department of Transportation

To enhance convenience for the general public to take buses and to achieve the goal of seamless time and information, Taipei City Public Transportation Office (the Office) decided to establish the Taipei Bus Information and Transit System (the System) in 4 phases, which started in 2004 and was completed in 2009. At present, the public can acquire information regarding arrival time at each bus stop by means of the web page for computers/smartphones, smart information board at the bus stop, telephone voice information system and smartphone APPs.
　　
The Department of Transportation, Taipei City Government, commissioned the Public Opinion Survey Centre to conduct a survey. The results showed that 69.7% of interviewed people who have used the System expressed satisfaction with the System in 2008 and 95.8% did so in 2015. In addition, 96.8% of the public thought that the System was helpful in determining arrival time at the bus stop. It is obvious that the System is an important and convenient service for bus riders. The aforesaid survey also demonstrated that the estimated arrival time at each bus stop shown to the public through smart information boards had the highest satisfaction rate (88.7%) among various convenient services provided by the System.
The Office expressed that, apart from providing estimated arrival time at the bus stop, the System also provides information such as: “But not stopping due to traffic control” and “Last bus has departed”. The former informs the public that buses are rerouted and will not be stopping at the bus stop due to traffic control, construction or other reasons, in order to prevent the public from waiting for buses at the temporarily suspended bus stops during the control time period. On the other hand, the latter reminds the public that the last bus has left the bus stop so that people can take a bus on other routes or change to other transportation means instead of waiting at the bus stop in vain.
To provide convenience to people with reduced mobility or requiring help to take buses, low-floor buses, which are in service, have already been included in the System since 2012. Subsequent newly-added low-floor buses will also be included in the System for public inquiry. As of the end of 2014, information regarding 2,475 low-floor buses can be acquired through the System by the public, with the online inclusion rate reaching 100%.
In order for the public to easily acquire information regarding estimated arrival time at the bus stop, the Office not only will improve stability of the System, but also gradually set up additional smart information boards at bus stops based on the annually approved budget. These boards will be set up with priority at bus stops which have greater use demands and permissible environment for providing the public with more quality bus transport services.

2015-10-06