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Xinyi to go ‘car-free’ on Sept. 22

“Hopefully the events will raise people’s awareness of the impending environmental crisis.”

— Luo Shiaw-shyan, Taipei City’s Transportation Department commissioner

The Xinyi shopping district will be closed off to cars and scooters from 7am to 5pm on Monday, Sept. 22 to celebrate this year’s Taipei International Car Free Day.

It will be the first time the Taipei City Government has banned automobiles in the district on a working day.

The district between Songgao Road, Xinyi Road, Shifu Road and Songren Road will become a car-free zone during the day. People who take the bus or MRT to the district will enjoy a free ride if they use their EasyCard, Hung Tsang-lang (洪滄浪), a division chief of Taipei City’s Transportation Department, said yesterday at a press conference at MRT Zhongxiao Fuxing Station.

The department further invited the public to join a group biking activity to be held by the city government on Sunday, Sept. 21.

The event, which will start at 6:30am in front of Taipei City Hall, will travel on a 16km route to the Gongguan Riverside Plaza.

The department invited the public to sign up for the event on-site and the first 1,000 participants will receive a free T-shirt.

Commissioner of the department Luo Shiaw-shyan (羅孝賢) said the city government has been advocating “green” transportation with low carbon emissions and encouraged residents to take public transportation more often, not only on the annual Car-Free Day.

“We are focusing our efforts this year on building a ‘Clean Taipei’ with ‘green transportation.’ Hopefully the events will raise people’s awareness of the impending environmental crisis,” he said.

A survey released by the city government last month showed that the number of city residents who ride bikes increased to 10.5 percent of the population up from 6 percent in May.
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