Tainan City has completed Taiwan's first comprehensive smart transportation center and seen initial results in the development of self-driving buses. In concordance with one of the city’s main policies, which is to turn the ancient capital into a smart new metropolis, the self-driving buses are expected to start services in the latter half of this year. There will be two demo routes: the Shalun circular line and Southern Taiwan Science Park circular line. Tainan City Mayor Huang Wei-che remarked this not only is a breakthrough in advanced transportation, but also indicates Tainan has the capability to plan, test, maintain, and set up a complete autonomous car supply chain. With the collaborations between the Economic Development Bureau and Bureau of Transportation, the government aims to improve city traffic, strengthen industry foundations, and build a world-class self-driving car base.
Huang expressed that making transportation more intelligent does not mean machines will replace humans in traffic management; instead, the technology is employed to help people make better decisions. The reason Tainan set up a comprehensive smart transportation center is to improve the overall city traffic and transportation status. The Bureau of Transportation is also working on integrating parking, traffic flow and signal data to plan out better policies that are based on actual data and road user experiences.
According to the Bureau of Transportation Director-General Wang Ming-te’s report (“Tainan City Smart Transportation Promotion Results and Prospects”), which was presented in the municipal administrative meeting on March 24, Tainan City Government has launched the 5S (Smart, Seamless, Safe, Sustainable, and Synergistic) Smart Transportation System Strategy. The strategy incorporates traffic data into transportation services to offer more convenient and efficient transportation means to citizens.
Tainan's self-driving bus testing plan leverages advanced technologies such as AI, big data, and advanced communications technology to make Tainan City's transportation smarter. Currently there are two demo routes: the Shalun circular line (with stops at Shalun Junior High and Elementary School, HSR Tainan Station, National Chiao Tung University Tainan Campus, and the Green Energy Demo Area), and the Southern Taiwan Science Park circular line (with stops at the Museum of Archaeology, TSMC, STSP Wellness Center, and TSC Southern Taiwan Science Park station).
Major traffic issues that Tainan City is currently facing include narrow streets and crowded street blocks, insufficient main access roads to other cities and counties, and shortage of public transportation services in rural areas. Another major traffic challenge is the number of vehicle ownership per thousand people in Tainan ranks third in Taiwan; however, every 10,000 cars in the city share 834 parking spaces, which is far lower than the national average of 1,257 spaces.
The smart transportation system strategy allows the Bureau of Transportation to share VD and CCTV access with the Freeway Bureau, Directorate General of Highways, and police stations through the interchange dynamic traffic coordination system. The system automatically adjusts traffic signal schedule and metering rate to ease up backup congestion around interchanges, thus allowing peak traffic flow to increase 13%. To tackle congestion problems around tourist attractions, attraction zone traffic directing information is disseminated to visitors to relieve the traffic situation. The average traffic moving speed at tourist destinations such as Anping and Yanshui have improved 12%.
Furthermore, smart roadside parking makes it easier for drivers to find parking spaces. By 2019, Tainan has set down 2,083 ground magnet parking space detectors and launched 905 smart roadside parking fee systems. In other words, a quarter of the existing parking spaces were transformed into smart roadside parking spots in 2019. The city government also launched the nation's very first official parking app, which is linked with online paying functions. Parking fees paid via mobile payment methods significantly increased 54 times. Drivers can also use the app to know the current number of available parking spots in different road sections to save time.