Kaohsiung MRT ridership down 1st day of regular fares

Fares on the southern port city’s MRT had been reduced to NT$15 (US$0.45) for the Sept. 22-Oct. 21 period to celebrate the launch of service on the Orange Line on Sept. 14.

Passengers numbers for Wednesday reached 102,000 — with 78,000 riders using the Red Line and 24,000 using the Orange Line — down from Tuesday’s total of 114,000, according to KRTC stats.

With the launch of regular fares Wednesday, the KRTC also began offering 15-percent discounts for passengers using I-Pass cards.

Huang Yi-chung, director of the KRTC’s Public Affairs Department, said that the company decided to offer the discounted fare for I Pass holders after taking both costs and ridership numbers into consideration.

He added that the KRTC will be looking particularly closely at what effect the discounted fare has on weekend passenger numbers following the launch of regular fare rates.

Huang also confirmed that although ridership was down by 12,000 on Wednesday, the KRTC’s total revenue from ticket sales for the day was higher than during the period of discounted fares of NT$15.

The regular fare on the Red and Orange Lines is set at between NT$20-60 depending on the distance of the trip.

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