Kagawa Prefecture, Japan visits Chiayi City to study BRT

(Taiwan Business News) Masao Sugimine, deputy director of the Transportation Policy Division of Kagawa Prefecture, Japan, and Naoto Matsukawa, deputy chief, visited Chiayi City on the 17th to study the high-speed rail connecting bus rapid transit system (BRT), and exchanged views and held discussions with relevant units of the Chiayi City Government, as a reference for their planning to build the Shikoku Shinkansen railway.

Kagawa Prefecture is located in the northern part of Shikoku Island, Japan, with an area of about 1,900 sq km and a population of about 1 million. It is currently planning to build a Shinkansen station. Because Kagawa Prefecture's environment is similar to Chiayi's, after paying a visit to the High Speed Rail Bureau yesterday, they made a special trip south to visit the Chiayi High Speed Rail Station, the bus rapid transit system and the city's advance traffic transfer center. The city government's Transportation Department introduced the implementation history of Chiayi's BRT, route frequencies, construction costs, and various BRT facilities such as low-floor buses, bus-only lanes, platforms and waiting shelters, real-time bus information systems, bus priority signal systems and electronic ticketing systems.

Afterwards, the delegation held discussions with the city government's Department of Transportation and Tourism, Department of Civil Affairs, and Department of Urban Development, exchanging views on issues such as urban development and population growth after the opening of the high speed rail. Sugimine expressed interest in the current BRT passenger volume and operating profit and loss of Chiayi City, and consulted the city government's Department of Urban Development on issues such as the advantages and disadvantages of the co-location of the Taiwan Railways and high speed rail and the development of towns around the high speed rail stations. Both sides discussed enthusiastically. The deputy director of the city government's Department of Transportation and Tourism said that exchanges would continue in the future to share relevant advanced measures.