Taipei City inaugurated a public bicycle rental system at five sites in Xinyi District (信義) yesterday.
A total of 250 “YouBike” bicycles are now available for rent at MRT Taipei City Hall Station, the east side of the Taipei City Hall, Exhibition Hall 3 of Taipei World Trade Center, the Xinyi District Office and the sidewalk across the street from the Grand Hyatt Taipei Hotel.
The rentals will be free of charge during the trial period, which runs until April 10. Thereafter, the rental fee will be NT$40 for the first 30 minutes and NT$10 for every 15 minutes after that, the Department of Transportation said.
Department of Transportation Commissioner Luo Shiaw-shyan (羅孝賢) said the rental fees could be paid with an EasyCard, but renters would have to pay a NT$3,000 deposit using a credit card.
The deposit will be confiscated if the bike is not returned within 24 hours, Luo said.
At a ceremony to inaugurate the rental service, Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) said the public bicycles will become a popular transportation tool and he promised to extend the city’s bike routes along with the expansion of the rental service.
Six more rental spots will be opened starting April 11: Exhibition Hall 1 of the Taipei World Trade Center, Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall, New York New York Mall, Xinyi Junior High School and on Songren Road in Sanchangli (三張犁).
Hau said the bike rental service would be expanded to major MRT stations in the city, including Gongguan, Yuanshan and Jiantan stations, and around top tourist attractions such as the Shilin Night Market in the near future.
The mayor said a 50km-long bike route would be established in downtown Taipei by the end of this year to promote “green transportation.”
Giant Manufacturing Co chairman King Liu (劉金標), whose company sponsored the public bicycle system, invited the public to enjoy a bike ride around the city.
Kaohsiung City inaugurated a similar bicycle rental network in January.
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) was sentenced to six months in prison, commutable to a fine, by the New Taipei District Court today for contravening the Personal Data Protection Act (個人資料保護法) in a case linked to an alleged draft-dodging scheme. Wang allegedly paid NT$3.6 million (US$114,380) to an illegal group to help him evade mandatory military service through falsified medical documents, prosecutors said. He transferred the funds to Chen Chih-ming (陳志明), the alleged mastermind of a draft-evasion ring, although he lost contact with him as he was already in detention on fraud charges, they said. Chen is accused of helping a
SECURITY: Starlink owner Elon Musk has taken pro-Beijing positions, and allowing pro-China companies to control Taiwan’s critical infrastructure is risky, a legislator said Starlink was reluctant to offer services in Taiwan because of the nation’s extremely high penetration rates in 4G and 5G services, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said yesterday. The ministry made the comments at a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee, which reviewed amendments to Article 36 of the Telecommunications Management Act (電信管理法). Article 36 bans foreigners from holding more than 49 percent of shares in public telecommunications networks, while shares foreigners directly and indirectly hold are also capped at 60 percent of the total, unless specified otherwise by law. The amendments, sponsored by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Ko
UNREASONABLE SURVEILLANCE: A camera targeted on an road by a neighbor captured a man’s habitual unsignaled turn into home, netting him dozens of tickets The Taichung High Administrative Court has canceled all 45 tickets given to a man for failing to use a turn signal while driving, as it considered long-term surveillance of his privacy more problematic than the traffic violations. The man, surnamed Tseng (曾), lives in Changhua County and was reported 45 times within a month for failing to signal while driving when he turned into the alley where his residence is. The reports were filed by his neighbor, who set up security cameras that constantly monitored not only the alley but also the door and yard of Tseng’s house. The surveillance occurred from July
‘SAME OLD TRICK’: Even if Beijing resumes individual travel to Taiwan, it would only benefit Chinese tourism companies, the Economic Democracy Union convener said China’s 10 new “incentives” are “sugar-coated poison,” an official said yesterday, adding that Taiwanese businesses see them clearly for what they are, but that Beijing would inevitably find some local collaborators to try to drums up support. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, made the remark ahead of a news conference the General Chamber of Commerce is to hold today. The event, titled “Industry Perspectives on China’s Recent Pro-Taiwan Policies,” is expected to include representatives from industry associations — such as those in travel, hotels, food and agriculture — to request the government cooperate with China’s new measures, people familiar with
RSS