Probably one of the nerdier things I do in my free time is fix and report transit errors on google maps. Accurate transit directions and schedules are extremely important if we want more people to take transit more often, especially in scenarios where good transit options exist! I do these bug reports and the subsequent follow up work because I feel an odd sense of gratification knowing that there are people from all walks of life who are now able to get places just a little bit easier from each correction made to Google’s transit data.
Last month I was able to get the most significant error I’ve encountered so far in Taiwan fixed after weeks of good old cold tweeting, calls, and emails. Read onwards if you want to learn random Taiwan transit facts you’ve never asked for and my circuitous route of getting this particularly significant transit feed mistake fixed.
The Taoyuan Airport Express MRT line whisks passengers from Taiwan’s Taoyuan International Airport to downtown Taipei in less than minutes from Terminal 1 and 70 minutes from Terminal 2 for just $ 5. 64. The line is Taiwan’s connection to the world and it’s an incredibly cheap and convenient way to get to Taipei with some scenic views to boot. The express line, which opened in March 2019 after over a decade of construction, many delays, It is unquestionably the best option to get to the city center from the airport. The line cost 3.7 billion US dollars to complete.
Unfortunately, for as long as I can remember the data feed for the train line incorrectly showed a minute trip time — making Google maps recommend driving or an unnecessarily complicated and expensive public transit trip via the high speed rail network . I really don’t like to think about how many thousands of people gave up after seeing the directions and just took a Taxi… I’ve certainly have heard first-hand from friends who have done just that.
The airport express train being a major transit line that serves international visitors I assumed somebody would notice and fix the error — but boy was I wrong. Much like the recent Youbike fiasco I was met with indifferent frontline customer service staff when I emailed and called Taoyuan Metro with the bug report and how to fix it. Their response was pretty callous even for a bureaucracy and they curtly replied “the correct timetable is on the Taoyuan Metro website.” I would send follow up emails and try to note that Google Maps has 1 billion active users a month and walk them through how easy it is to submit timetable corrections. These continued overtures were swatted down with a “Taoyuan Metro appreciates your opinions” canned response.
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