After ten years of construction, the Kaohsiung LRT began to operate in January of this year. The entire line is 22.1 kilometers long and the service area is now comprised of 38 stations. During the first half of 2024, the Kaohsiung LRT has served a total of 6.58 million passengers, increasing by 75% from 3.75 million passengers in the first half of 2023. The C24 Heart of Love River Station ranked first among the 38 stations in terms of both “ridership” and “ridership increase rat.”

Based on the ranking survey for the 38 stations in the first half of the year, the MRT Bureau found that the top five LRT stations in terms of ridership were: C24 Heart of Love River Station ranked the highest (2,942 passengers/day), followed by C5 Dream Mall Station, C14 Hamasen Station, C3 Cianjhen Star Station, and C12 Dayi Pier-2 Station. In addition, the top five stations with the highest increase in traffic volume between the first half of this year and the same period last year were: C24 Heart of Love River Station ranked the No. 1 (increasing by 1,169 passengers/day), followed by C11 Love Pier Station, C5 Dream Mall Station, C9 Cruise Terminal Station and C14 Hamasen Station.

After the completion of the LRT, it has helped the students along the route to commute to school. In terms of the distribution of the ridership, the schools along the LRT route include Dah Yung Senior High School, Kaohsiung Municipal Kaohsiung Industrial High School, St. Dominic Catholic High School, Shu-Te Home-Economics & Commercial High School and the Affiliated Senior High School of National Kaohsiung Normal University; LRT has become a new transportation option for the students to commute to school. In June of this year, the average student ridership (using the number of weekday student passes to calculate) was 4,427 passengers/day, increasing by 2,040 passengers/day or 85% as compared to last year's average of 2,387 passengers/day. This indicated that students along the route were gradually switching to LRT for commuting to school. Thus, LRT has created a new transportation route for school commuting!

Also, to make it more convenient for citizens to take the LRT to visit doctors, the medical institutions along the LRT route include Kaohsiung Municipal Kai-Syuan Psychiatric Hospital, Kaohsiung Municipal Min-Sheng Hospital, St. Joseph Hospital, and Kaohsiung Municipal United Hospital; thus, the LRT has also attracted more passengers to take the LRT to go to the hospitals. Taking the total ridership for C22 Kaohsiung Municipal United Hospital Station, C31 St. Joseph Hospital Station and C33 Department of Health Station, the average weekday ridership was 1,253 passengers/day, increasing by 667 passengers/day or 114% as compared to the average of 586 passengers/day in June last year. It showed that the LRT not only provided transportation services for commuters and tourists, but also provided more options for going to school and hospitals, which effectively enhanced the public's habit in taking public transportation services.

Director-general of Mass Rapid Transit Bureau, Kaohsiung City Government Wu Jia-Chang said, the total ridership of Kaohsiung LRT in the first half of the year has exceeded 6 million passengers, and it is expected there will be a new record for LRT in the second half of the year due to the summer vacation season in southern Taiwan, together with the major concerts and events in Kaohsiung and the promotion of the new economic activities in Asia New Bay Area. We hope to see the ridership of LRT in the second half of the year reaching the goal of 10 million passengers. Kaohsiung LRT provides safe, comfortable effectively and convenient transportation services to all people in Taiwan.