Over 300,000 Passengers Take Xinyi Line on Opening Day

 Over 300,000 Passengers Take Xinyi Line on Opening Day

Sources: All Taipei newspapers

Nov. 25 2013

The Xinyi Line (信義線) of Taipei City's mass rapid transit (MRT) system was inaugurated on November 24. Over 220,000 people used the new line as of 7:00 pm yesterday. The new line also raised the MRT's overall ridership to 1.46 million over the weekend, roughly 342,000 more than the average weekend level in October, an MRT spokesman stated. By inference, the ridership of the new line at the end (12:00 midnight) of the opening say must be over 300,000.  

The Xinyi Line will inevitably affect traffic at major transfer stops. Therefore, the Taipei MRT plans to dispatch around 300 additional staff workers to affected stations in order to provide guidance to commuters on the first workday today.  

The Xinyi Line is the second line which connects the eastern and western sections of Taipei, followed by the Bannan Line (板南線). The Xinyi Line is also called the most beautiful MRT line. According to a Taipei City Government official, the Xinyi Line may reduce traffic on the Bannan Line by approximately 15 percent. Moreover, passengers with Taipei EasyCards can ride the new line for free for one month. The Xinyi Line will also make it more convenient for people to go to Taipei 101 to watch the New Year's Day Countdown fireworks show, the peak of Taipei's New Year's season celebrations.

The 6.4 kilometer east-west line essentially follows Xinyi Road, starting at the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall (中正紀念堂站) and running through stations at Dongmen (東門站), DaAn Park (大安森林公園), DaAn (大安站), Xinyi Anhe (信義安和站), and Taipei 101/World Trade Center (台北101/世貿站), with the terminal station at Xiangshan (象山站).

Construction on the new line started in 2005 and final costs amounted to roughly NT$ 39.2 billion (approximately US$1.3 billion).

The DaAn Park stop is regarded as the most eye-catching station as it is decorated with a screen formed by a cascade of water and a display of several pieces of public art on a 8,000 square meters flower garden all underground, which together cost a total of NT$ 14 million (approximately US$ 470,000), and drew large crowds on the opening day yesterday. 

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