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.
Alain Robert, known as the "French Spider-Man," praised Alex Honnold as exceptionally well-prepared after the US climber completed a free solo ascent of Taipei 101 yesterday. Robert said Honnold's ascent of the 508m-tall skyscraper in just more than one-and-a-half hours without using safety ropes or equipment was a remarkable achievement. "This is my life," he said in an interview conducted in French, adding that he liked the feeling of being "on the edge of danger." The 63-year-old Frenchman climbed Taipei 101 using ropes in December 2004, taking about four hours to reach the top. On a one-to-10 scale of difficulty, Robert said Taipei 101
Nipah virus infection is to be officially listed as a category 5 notifiable infectious disease in Taiwan in March, while clinical treatment guidelines are being formulated, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday. With Nipah infections being reported in other countries and considering its relatively high fatality rate, the centers on Jan. 16 announced that it would be listed as a notifiable infectious disease to bolster the nation’s systematic early warning system and increase public awareness, the CDC said. Bangladesh reported four fatal cases last year in separate districts, with three linked to raw date palm sap consumption, CDC Epidemic Intelligence
Two Taiwanese prosecutors were questioned by Chinese security personnel at their hotel during a trip to China’s Henan Province this month, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday. The officers had personal information on the prosecutors, including “when they were assigned to their posts, their work locations and job titles,” MAC Deputy Minister and spokesman Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) said. On top of asking about their agencies and positions, the officers also questioned the prosecutors about the Cross-Strait Joint Crime-Fighting and Judicial Mutual Assistance Agreement, a pact that serves as the framework for Taiwan-China cooperation on combating crime and providing judicial assistance, Liang
US climber Alex Honnold left Taiwan this morning a day after completing a free-solo ascent of Taipei 101, a feat that drew cheers from onlookers and gained widespread international attention. Honnold yesterday scaled the 101-story skyscraper without a rope or safety harness. The climb — the highest urban free-solo ascent ever attempted — took just more than 90 minutes and was streamed live on Netflix. It was covered by major international news outlets including CNN, the New York Times, the Guardian and the Wall Street Journal. As Honnold prepared to leave Taiwan today, he attracted a crowd when he and his wife, Sanni,
RSS