Looking back over the MRT's trials and tribulations, it was questions of the invisible and intangible factors of confidence, trust and willingness to accept responsibility which made the engineers 'task so much more difficult, and as a result the entire Taipei citizenry paid a price. Richard Chen particularly admires Chen Shui-bian's approach of combining a "political maneuver" with "engineering judgment."
「信心太值錢了」，回首風風雨雨，陳椿亮不禁感慨，看不到也摸不著的信心、信任和擔當，讓技術人員吃足苦頭，受盡委屈，連帶全體市民都付出代價；他尤其佩服陳水扁結合「政治手腕」和「技術本位」的體檢做法。