It takes a lot to prevent fbb getting to grips with a timetable, however awful the presentation. In fact, the old man quite likes the challenge of working out where a bus actually goes. Despite the joys of Google Maps and Traveline all-stops timetables, it can be difficult.
But the old man should have realised that, sooner or later, his arrogance would be his downfall.
Correspondent David sent fbb a typical Taepei bus timetable - for a route that he, David, had used in the past.
It will probably come as no surprise to hear that Mandarin (Chinese) is not amongst the panoply of linguistic skills that fbb can demonstrate. But surely, you cry, a timetable is a timetable and a map is a map - such presentations transcend mere language.
Ha!
We have a route number, 837; and a QR code which directs the user to an internet URL which fails to load on the fbb laptop, but does arrive on the phone.
There is a timetable, of sorts ...
... with a few clues in English. We have two terminal points (Xinchun Street and Fude Li) and, by interpretation, departure times for "weekdays" and "weekends" are fairly easily interpreted as Monday to Friday and Saturday and Sunday.
The times are reproduced more cleanly on a PDF (of which more later) ...
... but time where? And if they are departures from Xinchun Street, where are the times for the return journey from Fude Li? And how long might the journey take.
Oh for a "proper" timetable!
But correspondent David explains.
Bus timetables in Taipei are non-existent. All you get are lists of departure times from the terminus (at best) or something that tells you the headway is 15-20 minutes or whatever.
I once lived out in the suburbs on minibus route 837, which has non-standard intervals. Attached (above) is the 'timetable' that you found at bus stops. The departure times shown are from Xinchun Street. That's all you get throughout the length of the route. There are no intermediate times and no departure times for the return journey.
You just have to get used to knowing what times the buses come, and keep an eye on the online GPS tracking (again, very accurate) that shows precisely where your bus is. Of course, in town, where frequencies are every 10 minutes or so, it's not a big deal, but...
There is a journey planner online (Chinese and English) but like all of them, you need to know what the system calls your stop, and too often it's not what you think.
The latter sounds very familiar!
There is, of course, a VERY diagrammatic diagram ...
... which might as well be in Chinese - oh, it is!
There are a few clues.
Little orange numerals give you key locations in English (thanks) ...
... and one-direction stops are shown with arrows.
Even fbb can hazard a guess at "terminus" and "bog standard stop".
fbb did try to find New Tianmui Community (6) and Xucuo (5); he got close, but could not match any stop for the 837 shown on Google Streetview with those coded locations; neither could he begin to explain ...
... two 837 oddities - works services mayhap?
But, knowing no fear and no Mandarin, your brave and elderly blogger decided to try to follow the 837 c/o google Maps.
Xinxing Street was the start. Google suggested that the 837 leaves from a bus station - but then Google calls all stops "station".
But look - loadsa buses ...
... a depot no less with a substantial engineering facility.
The google stop icon was plonked in the middle of the parking area ...
... but there are stops in just round the corner in Xinchung Street.
The "hand" bus stop sign is a neat touch - might it mean "request" stop?
The 837 then turns north (right at the junction) into Xinmin Street ...
... and past a rather splendid Golf Course.
After turning south along Shalun Road, the 837 finds itself along the shore of the Tamsui River estuary. This shelter carries the name "Half Station" but half of what is not at all clear.
But the views across the river are magnificent.
After a long time of looking, fbb was beginning to lose the will to live - and the 837 seemed to run out of stops here ...
... on the riverside, but at the entrance to a series of leisure facilities and an ancient fort.
This leisure area was served by an 836 weekends only operation.
But fbb gave up, failed and abandoned his plan to follow the 837.
Later on he did find his way, almost by accident, to that part of the Taipei web site that gave helpful information. But he did need to set the site to "English" ...
... and to know that you want "Gis Dynamic" (No, fbb has no idea!). Then ...
... you type in a route number e.g 837 and, yipparoo, you get a timetable of the current journey.
Unfortunately, fbb looked again after the service was finished for the day - due, of course, to the time difference.
But thereafter a down-scroll gets to a scaleable map of the route.
But thereafter a down-scroll gets to a scaleable map of the route.
Here is the bit fbb explored via Streetview ...
... and here is orange note 6, New Tianmu Community, a k a stop number 46 aka Fude Li? This is the "southern" terminus.
When the service is running, a little bus icon trundles round the route.
And here is the terminus c/o Streetview ...
... with an 837 grazing peacefully.
It does seem that everything you might need is, indeed, all on line - and thus available to a knowledgeable Taipei-ese; but, boy, is it hard work for an outsider.
And, in case you wondered, generally speaking Streetview has different stop names from those on the Taipei bus web site!
It makes buses from Rotherham to Swallownest seem an absolute doddle.
But it would be really good if there were a network-wide route map?
There is!
Taipei part three - plus other stuff blog : Saturday 18th July
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