Having lived in Kaohsiung for a bit, I observed that very few people use public transport unless they go to/from intercity rail or airport. Buses in particular are unreliable (mostly used by older people), and MRT alone is obviously not enough for the sparse city.
> I find cities in Taiwan frustrating to navigate without personal transport, at least a bicycle.
Some days, we walked > 10 miles; goes perfectly with stuffing your face with street food.
To be fair, we were there as tourists and only for 12 days, but in any of the major metros, we did not feel like our experience would have been better with a car. Maybe bikes.