I was walking around Taichung shortly after I arrived in Taiwan and as I’ve mentioned previously soon began to miss pedestrian crossings.

For the most part Taiwan has road crossings which are automatically timed. You walk up to the Zebra crossing and wait patiently until the little timer counts down, then checking for traffic running red lights you cautiously cross the road.

What I wouldn’t give for a button to push and feel like I’m speeding up the entire process.

After becoming reasonably adjusted and comfortable with the change in crossing I couldn’t help but notice several prominent intersections in Taichung were completely devoid of any type of pedestrian crossing.

No lights, no zebra crossings no nothing. It was like somebody forgot the footpaths leading up to intersections would be carrying people… on foot.

One particular day after several barrier crossings and a general feeling of uneasiness, (nobody walks around anywhere in Taiwan so I am often the only person walking down a street let alone crossing a major intersection), I decided there had to be something I was missing.

In a country with such a large population density there was no way Taichung’s city planners had just simply forgotten to install pedestrian crossings in the middle of the city.

Searching around it wasn’t long before I noticed the giant pink staircase entrances I’d been ignoring. Figuring they were tunnels to a nearby train station or something and looking about as inviting as sticking your hand into a barking dogs mouth, I finally mustered up the courage to walk down one.

Boy was I surprised.

The stairs led down into a large connected subway style system. So long as there were exits leading out from each of the corners of the intersection I was then able to exit the subway system with relative ease.

What I imagine would be a dark dank and smelly tunnel actually turned out to be pretty clean. The familiar smell of Melbourne’s urine stained Flinders Street subway system was replaced with the dank smell you might find in your grandparents basement.

One thing I noticed though was that nobody seems to use them. An indirect result of nobody really walking around in Taiwan for the sake of it I guess. Infact the only people I came across were a trio of old ladies who asked me if I was cold (apparently walking around Taiwan in a tshirt in 25 degree weather is madness) and a homeless guy sleeping on some stairs.

Perhaps these tunnels were built when the country relied less on scooters and cars.

Effort wise I still prefer my above ground pedestrian crossings as walking up and down stairs at every intersection does get annoying fast. From a motorist point of view I do see the advantages of not having to worry about pedestrians.

Mind you, here in Taiwan often walking backwards or even standing still will get you somewhere faster then driving during peak hour.

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