Kaohsiung KRT Station Nomenclature – FAIL!
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Photos by MJ Klein
This weekend, Hui-chen and I were in Kaohsiung for a few days. I had the opportunity to ride the new KRT system and I noticed something that had escaped me before. I didn’t cover this in our 2 articles about the KRT during it’s testing period, either. I was surprised that I missed something as fundamental as this issue.
I’m going to present 3 photos taken previously. I would like you to click on them and take a look at the large sizes for each one.
This is a photo of one of the maps in a station. Typical of station maps, it has numbered designations for stations, as well as the station name, both in English and Chinese.
This is a shot of the map inside one of the cars. Notice that it also has numbered designations for stations.
This is a photograph of a vending machine for KRT fares. Please click on this photo and view the large size. Notice that the machines do not have the numerical designation for any station. Hui-chen has asked me to meet her at station “R7″. Upon looking at the machine and attempting to buy a fare on the system, I had to call her up and ask her what the station name was. FAIL!
When you are in Kaohsiung, be sure to tell the KRT personnel that the machines need to be re-programmed to display the station numbers! These numbers exist everywhere else in the system, including the outdoor signs!
Thanks for reading. We’d like your comments and ratings below!
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November 4th, 2009 at 10:55 am
and to top it off, the ticketing machine was out of service. nice.
andre´s last blog ..ethan turns 3!
Reply to Comment
thenhbushman
reply on November 4th, 2009 11:48 am:
Andre, in all fairness, that was an old photo, taken during the testing period. the KRT was free during that time and all of the machines were offline. since that time i’ve never seen a machine out of service.
Reply to Comment
andre
reply on November 4th, 2009 11:59 am:
oh ok, my bad. thought it was taken this time.
anyways, i do think the numbering system they have in place is a good idea, especially for foreigners who a lot of times have trouble reading and pronouncing the names of the stations. plus with this being taiwan, different websites and publications will have different spellings for the same stations.
andre´s last blog ..ethan turns 3!
Reply to Comment
thenhbushman
reply on November 4th, 2009 11:03 pm:
Andre, this is why i was so surprised when i realized that the fare vending machines didn’t have the numbers! HC asked me to meet her at station R7 and i couldn’t find it on the machine. thanks.
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November 12th, 2009 at 8:50 am
Hey There,
Yep, I see the dilemma although admittedly with the English names it wasn’t that difficult to figure out where to go. You are right though, consistency demands they also have the labelling on the ticketing system.
We just got back from Osaka and they also use the Alpha-Numeric numbering system, it made getting around so damn easy. I wonder if they will ever do that in Taipei!
Interesting post and good observation.
Ciao
Paul
durbanbay´s last blog ..Riis Turns 3, Andrea Turns 1
Reply to Comment
thenhbushman
reply on November 12th, 2009 11:45 am:
the reason that i wrote this article Paul, is because my wife had simply said “go to station R7.” i thought it would be easy to find. when i saw that the machines didn’t use that system i had to call her back to find out the real name of the station. sure it was easy enough but just made more difficult by not using the standard that exists everywhere else.
thanks.
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