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Taipei residents celebrate Car-free Day with bike ride

Two cyclists ride on a Taipei street as 30,000 Taipei residents celebrated 2008 World Car-free Day yesterday by riding bicycles along a 16km route from Taipei City Hall to Jingmei Bridge. PHOTO: CHANG CHIA-MING, TAIPEI TIMES

Nearly 30,000 Taipei residents celebrated 2008 World Car-free Day yesterday by riding bicycles 16km from Taipei City Hall to a riverside plaza near National Taiwan University.

Among the cyclists were many executives and Taipei City Council members. They rode along two of the city’s main roads — which were off-limits to cars and scooters — and then passed through the National Taiwan University campus before taking the riverside bike route between Gongguan and the Jingmei Bridge.

The Car-free Day celebration also includes live music and free coffee for EasyCard holders in Taipei’s Xinyi business district today. The district will restrict traffic from 7am to 5pm, during which no private cars or motorcycles will be allowed.

People using EasyCards on buses passing through the Xinyi district during the period can ride for free rides.

In Taichung City, 5,000 cyclists rode in a car-free environment from a soccer stadium to a section of the elevated expressway between Taichung and Changhua.

Kaohsiung City marked World Car-free Day on Saturday, with residents riding bicycles 6.5km from Central Park to the Kaohsiung Cultural Center.

Taipei has marked World Car-free Day since 2002, while Taichung and Kaohsiung began in 2003.

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