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.
EVA Airways today confirmed the death of a flight attendant on Saturday upon their return to Taiwan and said an internal investigation has been launched, as criticism mounted over a social media post accusing the airline of failing to offer sufficient employee protections. According to the post, the flight attendant complained of feeling sick on board a flight, but was unable to take sick leave or access medical care. The crew member allegedly did not receive assistance from the chief purser, who failed to heed their requests for medical attention or call an ambulance once the flight landed, the post said. As sick
A drunk woman was sexually assaulted inside a crowded concourse of Taipei Railway Station on Thursday last week before a foreign tourist notified police, leading to calls for better education on bystander intervention and review of security infrastructure. The man, surnamed Chiu (邱), was taken into custody on charges of sexual assault, taking advantage of the woman’s condition and public indecency. Police discovered that Chiu was a fugitive with prior convictions for vehicle theft. He has been taken into custody and is to complete his unserved six-month sentence, police said. On Thursday last week, Chiu was seen wearing a white
The Taichung District Court yesterday confirmed its final ruling that the marriage between teenage heir Lai (賴) and a man surnamed Hsia (夏) was legally invalid, preventing Hsia from inheriting Lai’s NT$500 million (US$16.37 million) estate. The court confirmed that Hsia chose not to appeal the civil judgement after the court handed down its ruling in June, making the decision final. In the June ruling, the court said that Lai, 18, and Hsia, 26, showed “no mutual admiration before the marriage” and that their interactions were “distant and unfamiliar.” The judge concluded that the couple lacked the “true intention of
EVA Airways, one of the leading international carriers in Taiwan, yesterday said that it was investigating reports that a cabin crew manager had ignored the condition of a sick flight attendant, who died on Saturday. The airline made the statement in response to a post circulating on social media that said that the flight attendant on an outbound flight was feeling sick and notified the cabin crew manager. Although the flight attendant grew increasingly ill on the return flight, the manager did not contact Medlink — a system that connects the aircraft to doctors on the ground for treatment advice during medical
RSS