CHANGHUA MAYOR WANTS MRT, EXPERTS URGE MORE REVIEW|魏明谷:彰市24萬人口 捷運值得投資 學者籲慎估

A project to include the extension of Taichung City's green line MRT to Changhua has been included in the government's forward infrastructure plan. The budget for the extension is for just two stations, but Changhua City Government itself has assessed that the line should be extended to two lines, one into the city and one to Lugang. Changhua County Mayor, Wei Ming-Ku, says that just the city of Changhua has 240,000 people and it is worth investing in the project. However analysts say that there needs to be a more careful review and assessment. The Legislative Yuan Transportation Committee will visit Changhua High Speed Rail station to hear the feasibility report on Changhua County's proposal to link the high speed rail with existing railway lines. The plan includes a two station extension of the Taichung MRT line to Changhua, which has been included in the forward looking infrastructure plan. There is doubt over whether Changhua actually needs an MRT, but its mayor says that the population level merits investment. ==WEI MING-KU Changhua County Mayor == We have to look at the population, we can analyze anything but if we look at the population, a city population of 240,000, so we think it is worth extending the MRT to Changhua City. The population for Taipei and New Taipei Cities is 6.67 million people, with 2 million MRT journeys a day, in Kaohsiung City the population is 2.77 million, with 170,000 MRT journeys a day. Changhua has only 1280,000 people, so there are doubts about whether this is sufficient to support an MRT. As an example the Kaohsiung MRT opened in 2008, and only started to break even in 2016. Excluding the population factor, there are only two lines, and the public's use rate is not as good as in Taipei or New Taipei cities. ==Kaohsiung resident== My house is quite a long way from the MRT and then maybe I'd have to change lines as well, it's more trouble. == Kaohsiung resident== There isn't an MRT station near my home and its a bit far for me, so its not my first choice when I am going out somewhere. ==LEE KE-CONG Asst. Prof.Feng Chia University== Kaohsiung MRT is a crossroad system it is not enough to support, so we need to assess very carefully any MRT in other places. Analysts say that a Changhua MRT would be extended from Taichung and would be part of that medium volume system, where the lowest standard is for 6,000 journeys an hour. Apart from the cost of contruction, the operation and maintenance are heavy financial commitments and the existing transport overlap must be considered. TRANSLATED BY：CLARE LEAR 台中捷運綠線延伸到彰化市已經列入前瞻建設計畫，但預算編列延伸到彰化的部分只有兩站，彰化縣政府正評估將路網延伸到市區和鹿港兩條路線，彰化縣長魏明谷今天說，以彰化市現有 萬人口來看，這樣的投資很值得，不過也有學者疾呼，興建彰捷需要審慎評估！ 立法院交通委員 會上午到高鐵彰化站考察，聽取彰化縣府提出的高鐵連結台鐵可行性簡報，這個計畫也包括台中捷運綠線延伸到彰化市區兩站，都已列入前瞻建設計畫中，面對各方質疑，彰化到底是否需要捷運？縣長魏明谷認為，以人口數來看是值得的投資。 ==彰化縣長 魏明谷== 所以我們要看人口 什麼東西都可以分析 但是我們看人口 真的24萬的人口 把捷運拉到彰化市來 我覺得這樣的一個投資 是值得的 以北捷和高捷的人口數和捷運利用率來看 雙北人口約667萬人，平均每天搭乘捷運的有200萬人次，高雄人口約277萬人，每天搭乘捷運的人次約17萬人，彰化縣人口僅約128萬人，能撐得起捷運嗎? 以高雄捷運為例，2008年開始營運，到去年才開始轉虧為盈，撇除人口因素，路網只有兩條，也是民眾利用率不如雙北捷運的原因。 ==高雄民眾== 家裡離捷運站還有一段距離 然後可能還要轉車之類的 就是比較麻煩一點 == 高雄民眾 == 我家附近沒有捷運站 對我有點遠 所以捷運不是我出門 首選的交通工具 ==逢甲大學副教授 李克聰== （高雄捷運)一個十字的路網 在剛開始的運量 都還不足以支撐 那我們就要非常審慎評估 其他地方的捷運 學者分析，彰化捷運是由台中捷運綠線延伸，屬於中運量系統，中運量的低標是每小時要有6000人次搭乘，而除了興建，營運養護都是非常龐大的支出，彰捷路線是否與既有運具重疊，也都必須全盤考量。 綜合報導