Institute of Transportation, MOTC

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the travel behavior of the general public. In June 2021, the ridership of Taipei MRT decreased by 78% compared with that in April of the same year. In response, Taipei City Government decided a 75% off on the rent of the municipal facilities operated by the third party from May to July. The MRT ridership was used in this case as the background information for decision-making. Various open data were collected, including 54.42 million Taipei MRT trips from April to June 2020 and 2021, along with the station surroundings' social-economic and land- use characteristics. This research applied the decision tree and geographic information system to explore the factors of ridership affected by the pandemic. The research results show that (1) on weekday peaks, the factors for the largest ridership reduction under the pandemic are "travel distance ≧ 19.5 or < 5.8 km" and "areas with a lower ratio of population between the age of 15 and 64". YouBike and private mode may also replace some short-distance MRT trips; (2) on weekday peaks, the factors for the least ridership reduction under the pandemic are "annual income of households around the station ≧ NT$909,000", "areas with a lower ratio of elderly population", and "ratio of residential areas around the station > 45%"; (3) on weekends, the factors for the largest ridership reduction under the pandemic are "either trip end is a tourist MRT station" and "areas with more population"; (4) on weekends, the factors for the least ridership reduction under the pandemic are "none of the trip ends is tourist-based MRT stations", "annual income of households around the station ≧ NT$865,000", and "areas with a lower ratio of population under the age of 15 and a higher ratio of population between the age of 15 and 64"; (5) 118 stations are divided into four categories according to the factors affecting the ridership, and three rent reduction schemes are provided; (6) Xiaobitan and Xinbeitou branch lines are recommended to be replaced by buses due to the low ridership. Investigation of inter-station passenger volumes under the pandemic is suggested for future study. The impact of COVID-19 on Taipei MRT ridership in 2022 can be discussed based on the analysis framework of this research. In addition, it is hoped that the authorities will release such open data as Danhai LRT ridership for a more comprehensive analysis.