The Taipei City Government announced yesterday plans to expand the Ximending (西門町) pedestrian zone westward from Kunming Street to Kangding Road and southward from Emei Street to Chengdu Road for the next three months. If the trial is successful in attracting more shoppers to the area, it could become permanent.
Starting on Saturday, motor vehicles will not be allowed to enter the expanded area from 6pm to 11pm on weekdays and from 11am to 11pm on weekends.
“As the city has developed eastward, the Ximending area has gradually lost some of its appeal to newer competitors on the east side [of town]. We hope to attract more shoppers and revive the area’s business by creating a better and safer shopping environment,” Chen Po-yan (陳柏延), division chief of Taipei City’s Urban Planning Department, said after a municipal meeting.
The Ximending pedestrian zone was created in 1999.
The city government will consider making the expansion permanent after it assesses the popularity of the trial run, Chen said.
The Ximending pedestrian zone is the country’s biggest pedestrian zone and attracts an average of more than 3 million shoppers every month. Chen said expanding the zone would improve the atmosphere for shoppers.
Chen urged residents to take public transportation to Ximending as hundreds of parking spaces for scooters in the expanded zone will no longer be available.
The city government will also establish summer weekend pedestrian zones on Taoyuan Street, which is famous for its old beef noodle shops, and on Yuanlin Street from July 5 until September.
The department said cars will not be allowed to enter Taoyuan Street between Boai Road and Baoqing Road from 10am to 9pm during weekends. Yuanlin Street between Boai Road and Chongqing S Road will be vehicle-free from 11am to 7pm during weekends.
Chen said local business representatives had asked the city government to establish pedestrian zones to attract more customers.
The city government will consult residents and local businesses after the summer concerning the success of the pedestrian streets and decide whether to make the zones permanent.
The Ministry of Education (MOE) is to launch a new program to encourage international students to stay in Taiwan and explore job opportunities here after graduation, Deputy Minister of Education Yeh Ping-cheng (葉丙成) said on Friday. The government would provide full scholarships for international students to further their studies for two years in Taiwan, so those who want to pursue a master’s degree can consider applying for the program, he said. The fields included are science, technology, engineering, mathematics, semiconductors and finance, Yeh added. The program, called “Intense 2+2,” would also assist international students who completed the two years of further studies in
Former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) departed for Europe on Friday night, with planned stops in Lithuania and Denmark. Tsai arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport on Friday night, but did not speak to reporters before departing. Tsai wrote on social media later that the purpose of the trip was to reaffirm the commitment of Taiwanese to working with democratic allies to promote regional security and stability, upholding freedom and democracy, and defending their homeland. She also expressed hope that through joint efforts, Taiwan and Europe would continue to be partners building up economic resilience on the global stage. The former president was to first
Taiwan will now have four additional national holidays after the Legislative Yuan passed an amendment today, which also made Labor Day a national holiday for all sectors. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) used their majority in the Legislative Yuan to pass the amendment to the Act on Implementing Memorial Days and State Holidays (紀念日及節日實施辦法), which the parties jointly proposed, in its third and final reading today. The legislature passed the bill to amend the act, which is currently enforced administratively, raising it to the legal level. The new legislation recognizes Confucius’ birthday on Sept. 28, the
The Taipei District Court sentenced babysitters Liu Tsai-hsuan (劉彩萱) and Liu Jou-lin (劉若琳) to life and 18 years in prison respectively today for causing the death of a one-year-old boy in December 2023. The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said that Liu Tsai-hsuan was entrusted with the care of a one-year-old boy, nicknamed Kai Kai (剴剴), in August 2023 by the Child Welfare League Foundation. From Sept. 1 to Dec. 23 that year, she and her sister Liu Jou-lin allegedly committed acts of abuse against the boy, who was rushed to the hospital with severe injuries on Dec. 24, 2023, but did not
RSS