Keelung's DPP mayoral candidate Tung Tzu-wei is pitching a public transport overhaul as the fix for the city's commuter gridlock — a plan aimed squarely at the 100,000 people who travel in and out of the city each day.

• Keelung's buses are old, run too infrequently, and follow routes that no longer match how people travel.
• The plan swaps in low-floor, wheelchair-accessible electric buses and adds smart electronic stop signs.
• YouBike-style shared bikes and reorganized parking are meant to cut the number of private cars on the road.
• Short term, extra peak-hour buses starting from Keelung itself would fix the "can't get on the bus" problem.
• Longer term, the pitch is wider highways, better interchanges, and eventually an elevated freeway to separate long-distance traffic from local trips.

Outlook: Traffic is shaping up as a central issue in the Keelung mayoral race, and the freeway pieces would depend on central government funding well beyond one term.