Public transportation in Taiwan

I am both a pedestrian and a driver. I commute to work daily by train and on foot, and the trains are often packed. When I travel to Taipei, New Taipei, Hsinchu, and Kaohsiung for business, I also use public transportation. For me, places within a 20-minute walking distance after getting off the train are suitable for public transportation, but I know many Taiwanese people find even a 10-minute walk too far. I choose to spend NT$399 per month for unlimited train and bus travel within my commute area, as this is my commuting zone. If I need to commute across counties, I can choose an inter-county monthly pass; if I need to commute by high-speed rail, I can choose a high-speed rail monthly pass. These are the various preferential schemes currently offered by public transportation in Taiwan, and I have witnessed the improvements Taiwan has made year by year. In the metropolitan areas of the six major cities, whether or not to use public transportation is largely a matter of personal choice, and the enjoyment of using public transportation is even more related to the quality of passengers. How to transfer from one station to another one and from one transportation to another one are not difficult. Train and high-speed rail schedules are clearly listed, and there are App to track bus schedule real-time in major metropolitan areas. If you really want to use a bus, it's easy to find the information. We don't pay the high taxes of welfare states like those in Europe and Australia, so we shouldn't expect government officials to do everything for us. Many things can be easily done by ourselves with a little thought and effort; we should do them ourselves.

Things that require law enforcement are the government's priority. Things that individuals can do themselves shouldn't be constantly asked to be done by the government. Allowing motorcycles, bicycles, and shops to occupy arcades and sidewalks, condoning motorcycles, bicycles turning sidewalks into two-way slow lanes, forcing pedestrians to use both slow and fast lanes, and making it impossible for pedestrians to safely walk from one intersection to the next. I think these are the duties where government law enforcement should be focused on, but is failing to enforce the law. Laws alone are not enough to govern. 我每天 搭火車+走路 上下班，火車上常常塞滿人。去臺北、新北、新竹、高雄出差，也都是搭大眾運輸。對我而言，下車後走路20分鐘左右可達的地方都是適合搭大眾運輸的，但是我知道很多臺灣人連走路10分鐘都嫌遠。

我選擇每月花$399在我通勤的縣市無限搭火車及公車，因為這是我的通勤範圍。如果我要跨縣市通勤，我可以選擇跨縣市的月票，如果我要搭高鐵通勤，我可以選擇高鐵的月票。這些都是臺灣大眾運輸現在提供的各式優惠方案，臺灣這些年來逐年的改進我都看在眼裡。

在6都的都會區，要不要搭大眾運輸，和個人意願有很大關係，搭大眾運輸是否愉快，更是和乘客的素質有關。轉乘查詢沒有那麼困難，火車及高鐵都很清楚，大都會區也都有公車車班查詢app，只要有心想要搭，就很容易查到。我們沒有付像歐美澳等福利國家那麼高的各種稅，就不要每件事情都要求公務人員幫忙做好，很多事情自己動動腦動動手就很容易做到，這些自己做就好。

需要公權力執法才能做到的事情，是政府該優先去做的事情，個人自己就可以做到的事情，不要一天到晚要求政府幫我們做。放任機車、自行車及店家佔用騎樓及人行道，縱容機慢車輛將人行道變成雙向慢車道，逼迫行人無奈地走慢車道及快車道，造成行人無法安全的從一個路口走到下一個路口，有法卻不執法，這才是公權力該做卻無作為的地方，徒法不足以自行。