Every bus has priority seats, which, in most people’s view, are primarily for elderly people, the disabled, pregnant women and children. A man in his 50s surnamed Chen says that once when he was riding a Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) bus he felt ill and the priority seat in front of him was empty, but he did not dare to sit down. He suggests that priority seats be changed to “seats for those in need” so that anyone who is feeling uncomfortable can sit there.
Lu Chia-chia, head of the Taichung City Government Transportation Bureau’s Transportation Management Section, says that the definition of the phrase“for those in need” is too broad and some people might take advantage of it, such as by saying, “I am using my phone so I need to sit down.” This would then exclude the disadvantaged groups who really need a seat. On the Taipei Metro, as well as Japan’s and Hong Kong’s rapid transport networks, such seats are marked as “priority seat” and not as “for those in need.” Whether Taichung needs to make some changes will need some careful deliberation, and the Taichung City Government Transportation Bureau will discuss the matter with the Public Transportation Office.
Chen says that a few days ago he was taking the BRT from Taichung Train Station to the Taichung Veterans General Hospital. At the time the bus seats were nearly all full and the only vacant one was a priority seat, while some passengers were standing. He felt really ill and wanted to sit down in the empty seat, but he was afraid that people would look askance at him, thinking that a grown man should not occupy a priority seat.
Photo: Su Chin-Feng, Taipei Times
自由時報記者蘇金鳳攝
Chen says that the general public’s general impression of priority seats is that they are only for elderly people, the disabled, pregnant women and children. He therefore suggests that priority seats should be marked as “for those in need” so that anyone who needs to sit there can do so, instead of having to gaze longingly at an empty seat.
(Liberty Times Translated by Clare Lear)
每一輛公車都有博愛座,在一般人想法中,就是要給老弱婦孺優先坐的位子。有一位五十多歲的陳姓中年男子反映,日前他搭乘雙節巴士,當時他的身體相當不舒服,眼見博愛座有空位,又不敢坐;他建議博愛座應改為「有需求者座位」,讓身體不適的任何人皆可坐下。
交通局運輸管理科長盧佳佳表示,「有需求者」定義太廣,有人可 能會扭曲解釋,如「我滑手機也有需求」等,反而排擠真正弱勢需要有位子的民眾;台北捷運及日本、香港則是「博愛優先座」,也不是「有需求者座位」。台中市 是否要修改,真的要非常審慎研議,交通局會跟公共運輸處討論。
陳姓男子說,日前他從台中車站搭雙節巴士要到台中榮總,當時雙節巴士的座位已滿,只剩下博愛座上一個位子,而車子也有一些乘客是站著,他當時已很不舒服,很想坐在空的博愛座上,但又怕別人側目,認為他一個大男人佔什麼博愛座。
陳姓男子表示,博愛座給人既定的印象,就是只有老弱婦孺才能坐,他建議,博愛座應該改設為「有需要者的座位 」,讓任何有需要的人就可坐,不用再望著空椅興嘆。
〔記者蘇金鳳/台中報導〕
Rice is an essential ingredient in Taiwanese cuisine. Many foods are made of rice, adding more variety to our cooking, such as rice cake, or “gui.” Wagui is made by steaming rice flour batter in a bowl. The term “gui” refers to a type of food made from rice, while “wa” refers to a bowl. The pronunciation of “gui” in Taiwanese Hokkien is similar to the word for “nobility” in Chinese, so it is common for people to prepare various types of gui, including wagui, as offerings to the gods or ancestors,. 米是台灣重要的主食,用米製成的食品十分多元,豐富我們的飲食,如米做成的「粿」。粿的意思是米做成的糕點,碗粿是將在來米漿倒入碗中蒸熟,因而得名。粿因為音同「貴」,因此碗粿等粿食常用作供品祭拜神明和祖先。 nobility (n.) 高貴,高尚;貴族 offering (n.) 供品 While Taiwan may not be
It’s no secret that Japanese people have a deep affection for noodles. Like in the rest of East Asia, noodles are an important staple food, second only to rice. Japanese people have enjoyed noodles for over 1,000 years. The first noodles came from China and were introduced around 800 CE. As time passed, noodles in Japan not only became widespread but also developed some unique Japanese characteristics. The three most popular types of noodles in Japan are ramen, soba, and udon. Ramen, typically made from wheat flour, is usually thin and firm. The dough is kneaded and left to
Drive-through (or drive-thru) restaurants provide people with the immense convenience of being able to purchase and pick up meals without needing to leave their vehicles. These restaurants have been around for decades, and their success has spawned a number of equally handy services. The drive-through concept originated with the drive-in restaurant, the first of which was established in the US in 1921. Patrons would order and eat the food that was delivered to their cars by workers called “carhops.” Ten years later, a drive-through service was introduced, but it was not until 1947 that the first exclusively drive-through restaurant opened its
On Tuesday last week, the flame for this summer’s Paris Olympics was lit at the birthplace of the ancient Olympic Games in southern Greece in a meticulously choreographed ceremony. It will then be carried through Greece for more than 5,000km before being handed over to French organizers at the Athens venue used for the first modern Olympics in 1896. The pageantry at Olympia has been an essential part of every Olympics for nearly 90 years since the Games in Berlin. It’s meant to provide an ineluctable link between the modern event and the ancient Greek original on which it was initially modelled. Once