A Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Taipei City Councilor criticized the Taipei City Government yesterday for failing to present a comprehensive traffic plan to handle congestion in the area surrounding the Sogo Department Store’s new Tienmu branch after it opened on Friday.
The store attracted huge crowds and the surrounding area — including Zhongshan North Road and Fulin Road — experienced serious traffic congestion, especially on Saturday and yesterday.
Taipei City Police Department’s Traffic Police Division dispatched more than 20 traffic police officers to control traffic, but Zhongshan North Road, Fulin Road, Dexing West Road and Zhongcheng Road remained jammed over the weekend.
KMT Taipei City Councilor Wang Chih-ping (汪志冰) said the department store had failed to present the Taipei City Traffic Department with a proposal on traffic measures until earlier this month, adding that the traffic department had also failed to prepare for the expected traffic.
“Even more seriously, we didn’t see any measures to protect pedestrians. The Traffic Department ignored the impact of the department store on the traffic around the area. This put people at risk,” she said.
This was not the first time Sogo was responsible for causing traffics jams. There was serious congestion on Zhongxiao East Road when the Fuxing branch opened on the intersection of Zhongxiao East Road and Fuxing South Road in 2007.
Luo Shiaw-shyan (羅孝賢), commissioner of the Traffic Department, said the department had inspected the branch and surrounding area last month and earlier this month to help the store draw up traffic plans and improve traffic conditions around the area.
The efforts will continue and the store will have to assume the costs if any construction or new facilities are needed, he said.
Eight restaurants in Taiwan yesterday secured a one-star rating from the Michelin Guide Taiwan for the first time, while three one-star restaurants from last year’s edition were promoted to two stars. Forty-three restaurants were awarded one star this year, including 34 in Taipei, five in Taichung and four in Kaohsiung. Hosu (好嶼), Chuan Ya (川雅), Sushi Kajin (鮨嘉仁), aMaze (心宴), La Vie by Thomas Buhner, Yuan Yi (元一) and Frassi in Taipei and Front House (方蒔) in Kaohsiung received a one-star rating for the first time. Hosu is known for innovative Taiwanese dishes, while Chuan Ya serves Sichuan cuisine and aMaze specializes
Taitung County is to launch charter flights to Malaysia at the end of this year, after setting up flights to Vietnam and Thailand, the Taitung County Government said yesterday. The new charter flight services, provided by low-cost carrier Batik Air Malaysia, would be part of five-day tour packages for visits to Taitung County or Malaysia. The Batik Air charter flight, with about 200 seats, would take Malaysian tourists to Taitung on Dec. 30 and then at 12:35pm return to Kuala Lumpur with Taiwanese tourists. Another charter flight would bring the Taiwanese home on Jan. 3 next year, arriving at 5:30pm, before taking the
Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp. (THSRC) plans to ease strained capacity during peak hours by introducing new fare rules restricting passengers traveling without reserved seats in 2026, company Chairman Shih Che (史哲) said Wednesday. THSRC needs to tackle its capacity issue because there have been several occasions where passengers holding tickets with reserved seats did not make it onto their train in stations packed with individuals traveling without a reserved seat, Shih told reporters in a joint interview in Taipei. Non-reserved seats allow travelers maximum flexibility, but it has led to issues relating to quality of service and safety concerns, especially during
An exhibition celebrating Taiwan and Japan’s comic culture opened on Saturday in Taichung, featuring a section that explores Taiwanese reproductions of Japanese comics from when martial law limited Japanese representation. “A Century of Manga Culture: An Encounter of Taiwan and Japan’s Youth” held its Taiwan opening ceremony at Taichung’s National Taiwan Museum of Comics after an initial one-month run in Japan’s Kyoto International Manga Museum between May 24 and June 24. Much like the Kyoto exhibition, the show mainly celebrates the comic connection between Taiwan and Japan through late Taiwanese comic book
RSS