TAICHUNG CITY FREE BUS

From our archives, Compass Magazine, Aug. 2002:

By Douglas Habecker

As part of an ambitious effort to boost Taichung’s dismal public bus services, the city government Department of Transportation has launched a series of free bus routes. This began a few months ago with three routes:
      Route 1-Taichung Kang Road (weekends/holidays, every 30 minutes between 9 a.m. and 10:30 p.m.) starts at the train station and includes stops at The Splendor, Evergreen and The Landis hotels; Sogo and Mitsukoshi department stores, Tiger City, and Hui An and Hui Hsin parking lots.
      Route 2-Lin Hsin Hospital (Mon.-Sat., every 40 minutes, 8 a.m.-12 noon, 2:30-5:30 p.m., 6:30-8 p.m.) includes stops at Lin Hsin Hospital; Mitsukoshi, Tiger City, and Yu Kuo, Ai Li Er and Shih Cheng kindergartens.
      Route 3-Feng Chia Shopping Area (daily, every 30 min. between 9 a.m.-8 p.m., every hour between 8-10 p.m.) includes stops at Fushing Parking Lot, Taichung Bus Company Chao Ma station, Tiger City, and Chao Kuang and Tai Feng colleges.

      From August, free service will also be offered for six months on six color-coded routes: Green (Folk Park–Wenhsin Rd.–Ling Tung College), Orange (Chao Ma station–Science Museum–Chiu She Park), Blue (Chao Ma–Wenhsin S. Rd.–Gan Cheng station), Red (Chao Ma–Chung Ming S. Rd.–Ta Ching station), Yellow (Chao Ma–Li Ming New Village–Le Cheng Park), and Brown (Taichung Park–Hsing Chung Transfer Station–Science Museum). The Orange, Blue, Red and Yellow routes all operate 24 hours/day and originate at Chao Ma station.