The Taipei County Government will spend NT$770 million (US$23.94 million) before the end of next year to improve the county’s cycle path network to encourage people to commute by bicycle, Taipei County Commissioner Chou Hsi-wei (周錫瑋) said yesterday.
Chou made the announcement at the Bitan Scenic Park while hosting a ceremony to launch activities to mark International Car Free Day, which promotes a pollution-free living environment.
Chou urged people to drive less and cycle more to save energy, while pledging to build a low-carbon city with a cycle trail network that would eventually stretch for 128km.
PHOTO: CHANG CHUNG-YI, TAIPEI TIMES
The day’s activities featured a green market at the Bitan park, with booths displaying green energy and technologies.
In Kaohsiung City, Mayor Chen Chu (陳菊) joined thousands of residents to mark Car Free Day.
In a speech, Chen said that although Kaohsiung is an industrial city, its residents can be proud of the fact that it will have more than 150km of bicycle paths by the end of the year.
Through the government’s promotional efforts, the number of cyclists in Kaohsiung had risen significantly in recent years, Chu said.
To mark Car Free Day, the city government launched a new policy whereby people carrying folding bicycles on city buses would no longer be charged an extra fee.
The Taipei Department of Health yesterday said it has launched a probe into a restaurant at Far Eastern Sogo Xinyi A13 Department Store after a customer died of suspected food poisoning. A preliminary investigation on Sunday found missing employee health status reports and unsanitary kitchen utensils at Polam Kopitiam (寶林茶室) in the department store’s basement food court, the department said. No direct relationship between the food poisoning death and the restaurant was established, as no food from the day of the incident was available for testing and no other customers had reported health complaints, it said, adding that the investigation is ongoing. Later
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