Kaohsiung Metro () is a rapid transit and light rail system covering the metropolitan area of Kaohsiung, Taiwan. Its rapid transit network is known as Kaohsiung Mass Rapid Transit or Kaohsiung MRT. Construction of the MRT started in October 2001. The MRT opened in 2008 and the Circular light rail in 2015. Kaohsiung Metro is operated by the Kaohsiung Rapid Transit Corporation (KRTC; ) under a BOT contract the company signed with the Kaohsiung City Government. Two Kaohsiung Metro stations, and , were ranked among the top 50 most beautiful subway systems in the world by Metrobits.org in 2011. In 2012, the two stations respectively are ranked as the 2nd and the 4th among the top 15 most beautiful subway stops in the world by BootsnAll. The system uses romanizations derived from Tongyong Pinyin. History The Kaohsiung City Government undertook a feasibility study for constructing a rapid transit system in Kaohsiung in 1987. After finding favorable results, the city government began lobbying the Central Government for approval and funding. In 1990 approval was obtained to establish the Kaohsiung City Mass Rapid Transit Bureau and planning of the rapid transit network started. The first phase of the Kaohsiung Mass Rapid Transit System, the Red and Orange Lines, was approved in 1991, but disputes in funding shares between Kaohsiung City and County Governments stalled the project. The Kaohsiung City Mass Rapid Transit Bureau was officially established in 1994, to coincide with the project's move into the final scoping and detail design stages. Work continued until 1996, when the Central Government ordered KMRT to look into constructing the project via the Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) method. In 1999 the city government put out a request for the BOT contract to construct the first phase of the KMRT system. In 2000, out of the three consortia that submitted bids, Kaohsiung Rapid Transit Corporation (KRTC) was awarded the contract, receiving priority negotiating rights with the city government in constructing the system. KRTC obtained a company license and was registered in December 2000. In January 2001, KRTC signed the "Construction and Operation Agreement" and the "Development Agreement" with the Kaohsiung City Government, signaling the beginning of construction of the KMRT system. The main participants of the KRTC are: China Steel Corporation, Southeast Cement Corporation, RSEA Engineering Corporation, China Development Industrial Bank, and the Industrial Bank of Taiwan. The current system cost NT$181.3 (US$5.46 billion) to construct and includes