Department of Transportation

The Department of Transportation (DOT) has been making efforts in developing the Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) over the years. In order to provide the public with a more convenient access to traffic information, DOT has established a range of platforms, such as the “臺北好行 (providing Taipei traffic information and travel itinerary suggestions)” smart phone application, Taipei City ATIS Web (including the mobile phone/PDA version), traffic information display screen, email, and more. In addition, DOT has allowed agencies and organizations to link with the database of DOT starting February 1, 2009. The database covers information from parking, traffic control, public bus routes, to accident-prone locations, in the hope of maximizing the usefulness of relevant data.

According to DOT, there have been over 70 agencies/companies (still increasing) applying for the data-connecting service, with information channeled through smart phone applications such as悠遊公車通 (public bus locations), 轉乘通 (transfer advice), NaviKing, i8 ; GPS devices for cars such as Garmin nuvi, Mio, and GTR-9000; websites such as Google Maps, UrMap; TV platforms such as ERA news, CTV news, set top box, and more. In total, the number of inquiries for Taipei’s transport information has exceeded 30 million per month, signifying the importance of relevant traffic information to the citizenry.

DOT pointed out that following a couple of symposiums with agencies/companies applying for the data-linking service, it will work on reducing the length of the administrative procedure for application. DOT hopes that more agencies/corporations will join the rank or offer traffic information to the public through the linking service.

2012-01-30