Key to Taipei is the MRT, not Ma

[dArKeR]

Given the lamentable state of Taipei City under the administration of its jogging clown of a mayor, it is unusual to have something good to say about the place. Mayor Ma Ying-jeou's (???) ruthless seizing of photo opportunities at the expense of actually doing anything to make the capital better has resulted in Taipei becoming the most backward of the nation's major conurbations. It is indicative of just how badly Ma has performed that the recent furor over the suggestion that the capital be moved to Kaohsiung was even possible. It may be impractical, primarily for financial reasons, but the idea is not risible in the way it would have been, say, 10 years ago.

Taipei does, however, have one success story to its credit: its mass rapid transit (MRT) system. The company that runs the system, the Taipei Rapid Transit Corp, celebrated its 10th birthday this week.

A decade on, we tend to take the MRT for granted, its clean quiet efficiency is a welcome respite from the chaos above, or -- in the case of the Mucha line -- below it. Few now care to remember the anguish with which the system was born, the endless bickering, the legal suits, the doubts about safety, the torrent of public scorn over the succession of snafus which delayed the opening of the Mucha line, the cracked pillars, the brake fires, the famous rocking carriages on the Tamsui line.

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/edit/archives/2004/07/31/2003181163