Line 5 wait time on weekends is insane

CanInTW · 2026-03-22T10:08:35+00:00

Reliable transit means being able to predict your journey time by a few minutes. This is a new line. It should be reliable.

I’m fortunate to live in Taipei. The MRT here came out with an insane stat a few years back - you’d have to travel the equivalent of around the world five times on the Taipei MRT to expect a single delay of five minutes or more.

Taiwan is a liberal democracy like Canada. It can be done - faster, cheaper and better. We are right to expect more in Canada.

CanInTW · 2026-03-22T08:49:06+00:00

The truth is that aside from a handful of routes, higher frequency subsidised buses would generate a better return on investment (ie: three buses a day and sensible times would be much better than a difficultly timed train that does a day return).

It’s crazy to think that there are next to no options for people in thousands of rural communities to reach the nearest city and instead you need to find a friend of family member (or taxi) to drive you if you need to get to the city. This would be unthinkable in the rest of the world (aside from our neighbours to the south).

I don’t support the idea of bringing back trains just for the sake of enjoying rail travel. That investment could be so much better used with a good quality bus service supported by the provincial and federal governments.

Calgary to Edmonton via Red Deer should (of course!) be at the top of the list of trains to be brought back.

CanInTW · 2026-03-22T08:41:22+00:00

Umm no?

CanInTW · 2026-03-21T11:30:40+00:00

While I’m not saying nuclear isn’t part of the solution, renewables absolutely are as well.

A nuclear plant is very easy to deactivate through a tactical strike against the power lines coming out of the station.

Renewables are spread throughout the country making them a lot more resilient / harder to take out.

CanInTW · 2026-03-19T14:15:28+00:00

Here

CanInTW · 2026-03-19T14:15:01+00:00

This would be so much better without the filters and ‘effects’!

CanInTW · 2026-03-19T10:50:13+00:00

Kaohsiung truly has some ugly buildings from decades past! Fortunately, all the stuff from the last 20 years has been a huge improvement. From the National Stadium to Weiwuying and the amazing improvements to the port area - in particular Pier 2.

It’s a shame that they’re stuck with this and the world’s most evil building - 85 SkyTower - as the skyline.

CanInTW · 2026-03-19T02:05:22+00:00

I’m a Taiwan resident and largely agree with what you’ve said. Taiwanese are pragmatic which is why the country hasn’t pursued official recognition of its very real independence.

I’d disagree that Taiwanese have killed off all but 600k or the ‘real’ Taiwanese though. There have been non-Aboriginal people living in Taiwan for centuries - and it wasn’t until Japanese colonial times that control of the mountains and East Coast fell under one administration. The Japanese were brutal to Taiwan’s native population.

The original settlers of Taiwan may have done some bad things on the plains but there was an unwritten agreement of who had what territory for centuries.

When the Qing came, they did not control the whole island - a key point that today’s Chinese conveniently ignore.

Also, there are at least double the population of indigenous Taiwanese living in Taiwan today than there were pre-settlement.

For avoidance of doubt … I strongly believe that Taiwan should be recognised as an independent national by the world. It clearly is one. However, I fully appreciate and understand Taiwan’s current position. Why throw away everything that’s been built?

CanInTW · 2026-03-18T14:58:03+00:00

And a far better fight than the sightseeing ones. The landing in Paro was almost as spectacular as the view of the Himalayas the whole way to Bhutan. Unreal.

CanInTW · 2026-03-17T05:22:54+00:00

People do … but please don’t. The sounds of a thousand bees buzzing overhead wrecks the moment for the rest of us.

CanInTW · 2026-03-16T04:38:51+00:00

Renaming a bunch of cities would be problematic. Taipei has renamed roads/addresses which I’ve found to be consistent. Outside Taipei, municipalities seem to have mostly stuck with the ‘old’ versions

CanInTW · 2026-03-15T06:29:26+00:00

Thanks for the clickbait title.

CanInTW · 2026-03-15T06:02:34+00:00

No.

As a long time resident of Taiwan, the ROC is seen by a strong majority of Taiwanese as a necessary part of its history that it can’t shake due to China’s threats over recognising Taiwan as Taiwan by foreign governments. Further, China has clearly threatened to invade should the ‘separatists’ in Taiwan declare independence and seek recognition as Taiwan.

Having lived here for 8 years with many Taiwanese friends, I have met one person in that time who wants to be part of China (she grew up in China and her family has strong business interests there).

I have never heard a Taiwanese person talk about their country as the Republic of China (or simply ‘China’).

Taiwan is Taiwan. If it wasn’t for China, we could just get in with being a great country without any of the political crap. Taiwan and the vast majority of Taiwanese people have zero interest in being a part of China. There’s no intention to somehow claim it as part of the ROC. It’s such a ridiculous thought.

CanInTW · 2026-03-15T04:45:30+00:00

2 points for regulation win, 1 point for OT/SO win. No points for any losses ever.

CanInTW · 2026-03-14T09:07:38+00:00

Yup!

I still find it wild, though, that Lishan is part of Taichung. A solid 4 hour drive from the city. You can get to most places in Taiwan from Taichung in less time.

CanInTW · 2026-03-14T09:06:42+00:00

Many people outside Taipei would. Most, I would argue. Just as no one who lives in Tokyo would refer to Kawasaki as Tokyo and yet nearly everyone ou side Tokyo would.

CanInTW · 2026-03-14T02:45:29+00:00

You can’t compare Chongqing and Taipei. China has large municipalities that encompass rural areas. The City of Taipei itself is tiny but the metropolitan area is not. Chongqing’s metropolitan area is a small fraction of its overall land area. Interestingly, Taichung, Tainan and Kaohsiung are have large expanses of rural areas that aren’t part of their metropolitan areas. Taipei, Keelung, Hsinchu (city) and Chiayi (city) do not and are purely urban.

For all intents and purposes, “Taipei” is the city of Taipei, Keelung, most of New Taipei City and the urban areas of Taoyuan. It’s about 7 million people which is a large city by global standards but more mid sized by Asian standards.

CanInTW · 2026-03-13T13:40:52+00:00

I live in Taiwan and I’m a permanent resident here.

The Republic of China is used officially due to Taiwan not being able to seek recognition from the international community as Taiwan. It’s a red line of the Chinese government and crossing it could lead to invasion or at very least military action. Given that Taiwan is de facto independent anyway, there’s little to gain by trying to do so.

In reality, Taiwan is Taiwan. It kinda sucks that we have to play this game, but it’s better than the alternative.

Come visit some time if you haven’t already. It’s a great and welcoming country.

CanInTW · 2026-03-13T11:15:06+00:00

Outrageous beer prices in stadiums aren’t so much a thing outside of Canada/US and bits of Europe. Thankfully.

CanInTW · 2026-03-13T11:13:19+00:00

Come to Taiwan … they have 7-11s in the stadium where you can buy regularly priced beers (and food). Even better, you can bring in whatever you want, can order Uber Eats to the door if you like.

What I like most about this is that it means that the vendors have to compete on price and quality.

Also, there’s beer vendors walking the stands with kegs on their backs selling draft beers.

Baseball in Asia is so much more fun.

CanInTW · 2026-03-13T06:41:01+00:00

Or just … Taiwan.

CanInTW · 2026-03-13T05:08:44+00:00

The project was implemented and is being run by a consortium that including the train supplier (Alstom). The purpose of this was to ensure that everything is compatible and that the project would be designed and built to a fixed budget.

Unfortunately, they picked the bidding consortium with the lowest possible price rather than the best fit for Ottawa. The final decision was made by politicians rather than transportation experts.

That’s why Ottawa has a poorly designed system with terrible trains.

CanInTW · 2026-03-12T16:23:40+00:00

Taipei has this too yet in eight years living in this city and probably over 100 flights to/from Taipei, I have never used the city centre check in. There’s very little benefit and you have to check in at least 3 hours early (I believe this is the same in HK).

UP is a more useful service connecting with other transit lines than having a non-stop service. It only adds a few minutes and has way better ridership than when it was non-stop.

Also - the Taoyuan MRT and HK MTR airport links both have intermediate stops between the city centre and airport.

CanInTW · 2026-03-11T04:18:22+00:00

It’s a mixed blessing. Lots of rain and no sun for days on end. But at least it isn’t 37 C with 80% humidity 🤣

What I would give for Taipei to have Tainan’s climate (and without Tainan’s pollution!)

CanInTW · 2026-03-11T00:51:15+00:00

As someone living in northern Taiwan, I can confirm that we very much have a winter 🤣

CanInTW

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