Taipei Joint Bus System
The Taipei Joint Bus System is a bus system that serves the greater metropolitan area of Taipei, Taiwan. It is administered by the Taipei Joint Bus Service Management Center, the Taipei City Traffic Bureau, and the New Taipei City Traffic Bureau, and is operated by 15 private agencies. It includes the bus systems of Taipei City and New Taipei City, and has a coordinated numbering and fare system.
Overview
The system is jointly operated by 15 individual bus transit agencies, sharing the same fare structure, ticketing process, and route numbering. Although most routes are operated by a single agency, there are routes co-operated by two agencies.The 15 agencies are:
- Tatu-huei, Metropolitan Transport Company Ltd.
- Hsinhsin Bus
- Tayiu Bus
- Ta-nan Bus
- Kuanghua Bus
- Chunghsing Bus
- Chihnan Bus
- Taipei Bus
- Sanchung Bus
- Capitol Bus
- Xindian Bus
- Hsinho Bus
- Tanshuei Bus
- Tungnan Bus
- Keelung Bus
Each bus operating agency participating in the joint alliance formed a committee overseeing a joint-venture management centre.
The alliance shares stops and waiting areas, and operates universal ticketing and fare structures. All revenue generated is collected by the management center and is then distributed to individual operators to meet their expenditure needs. Each operator retains control of its own structure, assets, revenue vehicles, and legal liabilities.
Furthermore, Taipei City Traffic Bureau makes a bi-annual service quality evaluation of each operating agency. This evaluation is used as a reference with regard to an operator's application for new routes and, the public transit subsidisation. New Taipei City Traffic Bureau evaluates New Taipei-administered operators separately.
Image:Shin-Shin Bus AG-555 on Roosevelt Road, Taipei City 20060823.jpg|thumb|Route 256 operated by Hsinhsin Bus running on the bus lane of Roosevelt Road.
History
Before 1976, each bus operator, including ones operated by the Taipei City Bus Administration, had their own fare structure and tickets. Paper tickets could not be used between different operators, making transfers between routes inconvenient. Bus routes were individually planned by the operators, often creating areas that had either too much or not enough service.The formation of the joint bus system
To increase service efficiency, the "Committee on the Establishment of Taipei City Public and Private Bus Joint Service" was formed in 1976, unifying route numbering, fare structures and ticketing, and establishing a unified organisation administering joint service businesses. On 30 April 1977, the joint service began with 33 routes. Later the same year, 97 routes were added to the joint system. The number of operators increased from five to ten.In the late 1980s to 1990s, many local routes administered by the Taiwan Provincial Highway Bureau were renumbered and joined the joint service system. As more operators participated in the joint system, the service area increased. As the joint system was completely administered by the Taipei City Traffic Bureau, it was difficult to survey the transportation needs, of Taipei County. Later, with the establishment of the Taipei County Traffic Bureau, routes that had their major mileage in Taipei County were then administered by the County Bureau.
The change of bus stop sign
Written by Hand
In the early stages, bus signs could be circular or rectangular. After the joint operation started, all sign designs were unified as a circle, with a pink background. Information about the particular bus route was listed from top to bottom:- the route-number in red text, with the words 聯 and 營 on either side;
- the bus stops in red text;
- the times for each day's first and last bus; also
- the time intervals between each bus, etc.
Print and Paste
- Phase 1: The information sheet was posted on a stick, which installed four dark brown rectangular boards of LED unit. The stop-names were written in white text. Three of the boards had route information including routes display and the list of stops. The fourth LED board were used for displaying advertisements. This started in the 1970s.
- Phase 2: lacked in content
- Phase 3: lacked in content
Ticketing evolution
Later, the private bus companies and transport offices made plans for a system where fares would be deducted from a "retained value chip" ticket. After the private bus companies implemented a trial, this retained-value chip fare-deduction system was officially implemented on 1 September 1998.. The chip tickets could be bought with retained values of NT$300 and NT$500. However, the chip tickets could not be integrated with the Taipei Metro magnetic retained-value ticket, had a poor ability to process information, and had a high rate of failure. Consequently, as RFID technology became more advanced, the bus and MRT both started using the IC Smart card「easycard」. Thus between 2002 and October 2003, the bus chip tickets were phased out as the EasyCard system became prevalent.
Present toll system
Toll method
Bus fares are either charged to an EasyCard, for example a Taipei Pass, or directly paid by cash dropped in the fare box. No change is available for cash paid into the fare box. Therefore, it is recommended that passengers collect enough spare change before boarding the bus. The bus fare is determined according to different "sections" of the bus route, categorized as "one-section route" "two-sections route" or "three-sections route."Sections charge
- One-section routes: When the passenger boards the bus on any station on the bus route, and alights on another stop on the same bus route.
- two, three sections routes: from any stations that are "intersection-points" or "buffer sections," station on a route. for example:
- *A – B – C – D – E. A→ B or C "one-section route"; A → D or E "two-section route" ; C → any other stops "one-section route."
- *A – B – C – D – E. A or E → B-D = "one-section route"; A → E ="two-sections route"; B-D → all other stations "one-section route."
- *A – B – C – D – E – F – G. A→B "one-section route"; A→ C-F "two-sections route," A→G "three-sections route." ; B→ C-F "one-section route." ; B or C → G would be a "two-section route."
Intersection points and buffer zones
Transfer points are located at such places as Shilin, Songshan, Gongguan, Yonghe, Wanhua, and Sanchong, or at the Taipei/New Taipei border on the Tamsui and Xindian Rivers. The locations where the intersection points were designed have consistently become the best places for passengers to change buses, and due to increased pedestrian traffic in those areas, popular and energetic retail streets have developed.
As would be expected, riding through 10 more stops but not through an intersection point would only require the payment of "one-section route" fare, but to board the bus at an intersection point, and riding through only two or three stops, would require a "two-section route" fare. Because the fares required were not proportional to the distance covered on the bus, buffer zones were then created. Buffer zones were created as stations concentrated in areas before and after bridges and tunnels,, which increased the efficiency of pedestrians transferring from one bus to another. After the MRT gradually went into operation, more and more bus routes used MRT stations as buffer zones, which led to the creation of more buffer zones, each with larger areas.