Selfish People Should Use Public Transportation

...simply because they'd live longer, even if they don't care about the environment. According to this Forbes article:

What's really taking a toll on your health is the polluted air you're breathing, lengthy traffic delays and dodging accidents to and from work.

[A report] that investigated diesel exhaust levels during commutes [in various US cities] documented diesel particle levels four to eight times higher inside commuter cars, buses and trains than in those cities' ambient outdoor air. The only commutes found to be low in diesel exposure were those on electric-powered subways and commuter trains, buses running on alternative fuels or retrofitted with diesel particulate filters, and in cars traveling with little truck traffic.

I'm pretty certain that scooter riders - who account for the majority of commuters in Taiwan - breathe in even more pollution that car drivers and bus passengers. Unfortunately, anyone riding a bicycle is also vulnerable.

Expensive Oil Equals Less Flying

I've already blogged about how rising gasoline prices have caused people to drive cars less and instead ride motorcycles and possibly bicycles. Now it seems the price of oil is starting to really cut into flying. China Airlines has said they're reducing the number of flights they operate; Far Eastern Air Transport is going under for various reasons, fuel prices being one of them.

Green Steps By The New Administration

The government's own Taiwan Journal reported today that:

Taiwan's new administration announced it had begun introducing guidelines for government departments and agencies to save energy and reduce carbon emissions, which are considered one of the major causes of global climate change.

[On] May 22, Presidential Office high-level officials began using smaller cars instead of limousines, reserving the larger vehicles for visiting foreign dignitaries.

Minister of Transportation and Communications Mao Chi-kuo has instructed the ministry to use a video conferencing system, so that officials in remote areas do not have to travel to Taipei for meetings. In addition, the MOTC plans to install technology that is able to adjust settings on air conditioning systems based on a room's humidity and temperature. It was estimated that such a system would reduce energy consumption by up to 30 percent.

All moves in the right direction, for sure, but the government also needs to pump money into MRT schemes instead of road-building programs, and tackle the massive CO2 emissions of certain private enterprises, such as the Formosa Plastics Group.

The ideas are right but the goals could be more ambitious:

[Yeh said] employees were also being encouraged to use public transportation at least once a month.

Once a month? Why not twice a week?

Where Tainan HSR Station Should Have Been

I took this photo from the platform of Sinshih TRA Station in Tainan County. As you can see, the high-speed railway crosses the old TRA line about 100 meters southeast of the platform. To me, this would have been an excellent place for Tainan's HSR station. Passengers would be able to transfer from HSR to TRA to go to downtown Tainan, quicker and better for the environment than the current 35-minute bus journey. Also, they'd be a lot nearer Yongkang - the biggest city in Tainan County - and the science park, which is the destination of many business travelers.

There are plans to link Tainan HSR station with the city by light-rail. Ground has yet to be broken, however.

Are Taxis An Endangered Species?

The opening of Kaohsiung's MRT is reportedly cutting into taxi drivers' earnings. And in Taipei, a city councilor wants the number of taxis reduced because they're so often cruising the streets empty. Some say more taxis should convert from gasoline to LPG or a dual gasoline-LPG system.

Personally, I hope taxis remain plentiful and inexpensive. I think it's better for people to take trains and buses from one city to another, and then a taxi from the station to their final destination, rather than drive their own vehicle the whole way.

Water Profligacy On The KMRT

Just over a week ago, I took my first trip on Kaohsiung's new MRT system. It seems to work well, but I did notice that the urinals in the men's toilets bear stickers reading "3 liters per flush."

This struck me as a lot more water than strictly needed; surely a liter would be enough. But I'm not surprised. Cheap water in Taiwan means water-efficient toilets are not a priority.

Waterless urinals are described in this article.

Bikes In The News

In a March 5 editorial, titled Coaxing Cyclists Out Of The Parks, the Taipei Times says:

"For cyclists in Taipei, two things changed this weekend. On Saturday, the Taipei MRT system opened 12 more stations to cyclists and their bikes, bringing the number of stations with bicycle access up to 27 of the 69 stops. Then, on Sunday, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MOTC) announced new traffic rules for cyclists on city streets that will take effect at the end of this month. The city's growing population of cyclists will no doubt welcome the chance to board the MRT with their bikes at more stations."

This is the critical (in every sense of the word) sentence:

"Unfortunately, Taipei's bicycle infrastructure seems to revolve around one word: recreation."

The editorial argues that government officials should be looking at cycling as a way of getting to work, not just exercising. I doubt that many young Taiwanese office workers could be persuaded to cycle to work. The hot, wet climate isn't conducive to cycling and then turning up at the office in the pristine condition expected. As far as I know, few companies have facilities where workers can shower and change on arrival...

Meanwhile, the Taiwan News reports that Tainan City is planning a bike rental system for residents and visitors. According to the report, the city government said the service could "reduce vehicle use by about 5 to 10 percent."

Anyone wanting to rent a bike would have to get a special IC card that would enable him or her to remove a bike from one of the 90-odd unmanned rental stations the city is planning.

I have one concern: Will the IC cards be retrieved and recharged for reuse? Or, once exhausted, will they simply become landfill, like IC cards for public telephones?

Guanshan in Taidong County has perhaps the most successful tourist-oriented cycling scheme in Taiwan. Several other townships have tried to emulate it; Meinong in Kaohsiung County seems to have done a decent job.

For other news of bike-related events this month, see this post on the David On Formosa blog.

Are People Driving Less?

On March 1, the Central News Agency (CNA) reported that, "oil sales have declined in Taiwan over the past year as more people are using public transportation instead of private vehicles."

Anecdotal evidence suggests this might be true. When I took my car to be serviced a few months back, I was told by a worker at the garage that business there wasn't good, because people are using their cars less, and so the vehicles need servicing less frequently.

People in Taipei and Kaohsiung (which has a new metro system) may well be using public transportation more often than before. Elsewhere, I suspect they're riding scooters rather than driving cars. I doubt any significant number of people have given up gasoline in favor of bicycles...

Anyway, the nitty gritty of the CNA report: According to the central government's Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS), gasoline and diesel sales totaled 13.85 million kiloliters in 2007, down 2.2 percent from the previous year. For January 2008, gasoline and diesel sales decreased 7 percent year-on-year to 1.16 million kiloliters, with gasoline sales dropping 7.9 percent to 819,000 kiloliters and diesel sales losing 4.6 percent to stand at 344,000 kiloliters. As of the end of January 2008, there were 2,606 filling stations around Taiwan, 27 more than 12 months earlier.

DGBAS officials said passenger traffic on Taipei's metro system increased 7.4 percent year-on-year to 36 million people for January 2008, while that of the high-speed railway system rose 68.6 percent year-on-year to two million. During the same month, the number of "small" cars traveling on freeways dropped 1.3 percent year-on-year to 38 million.

By "small" cars I'm assuming they mean private passenger cars. I haven't been able to find the original Chinese article to check this.

There's a related article in the China Post (a Taiwan-based English-language newspaper) here.

In Taiwan, car sales have been falling for two straight years, a fact which many people attribute to a bad economy. In Japan, however, domestic auto sales fell to a 35-year-low in 2007.