The Ministry of Transportation and Communications is amending regulations to allow bus operators to install bike racks on the front of buses.
The Road Safety Traffic Rules (道路安全交通規則) has regulations on bicycles stored on sedans or other types of small-size motor vehicles but none for bus operators wanting to install such devices on the front of their vehicles.
The Department of Railways and Highways is in the process of amending Article 77 of the Road Safety Traffic Rules to add regulations on bike racks.
“Once the amendment is promulgated, bus operators can choose if they want to install [bicycle racks] or not, depending on the needs of their customers,” said Lin Fu-shan (林福山), a section chief at the department.
The size and specifications of the bike racks must meet safety certifications from the semi-official Vehicle Safety Certification Center.
Toby Lee (李建明), a multimedia designer who cycled around the nation last year, welcomed the amendment.
“Biking in the city can sometimes be dangerous because of all the traffic,” Lee said.
“Soon people will be able to take the bus out of the city and start riding again once they reach the suburbs,” he said.
But he said that some of his friends might not like the idea of placing their bikes on the front of a bus.
“Their bicycles are scarily expensive,” Lee said. “I don’t think they want to be apart from their bikes.”
In related news, the Taiwan Railway Administration (TRA) is remodeling some of its train carriages to allow cyclists to board with non-folding bicycles, a plan scheduled to be completed by October.
The measure is mainly designed for passengers wanting to cycle on the east coast.
Currently, the TRA only allows passengers to bring folding bicycles onto trains.
The Ministry of Education (MOE) is to launch a new program to encourage international students to stay in Taiwan and explore job opportunities here after graduation, Deputy Minister of Education Yeh Ping-cheng (葉丙成) said on Friday. The government would provide full scholarships for international students to further their studies for two years in Taiwan, so those who want to pursue a master’s degree can consider applying for the program, he said. The fields included are science, technology, engineering, mathematics, semiconductors and finance, Yeh added. The program, called “Intense 2+2,” would also assist international students who completed the two years of further studies in
The brilliant blue waters, thick foliage and bucolic atmosphere on this seemingly idyllic archipelago deep in the Pacific Ocean belie the key role it now plays in a titanic geopolitical struggle. Palau is again on the front line as China, and the US and its allies prepare their forces in an intensifying contest for control over the Asia-Pacific region. The democratic nation of just 17,000 people hosts US-controlled airstrips and soon-to-be-completed radar installations that the US military describes as “critical” to monitoring vast swathes of water and airspace. It is also a key piece of the second island chain, a string of
Taiwan will now have four additional national holidays after the Legislative Yuan passed an amendment today, which also made Labor Day a national holiday for all sectors. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) used their majority in the Legislative Yuan to pass the amendment to the Act on Implementing Memorial Days and State Holidays (紀念日及節日實施辦法), which the parties jointly proposed, in its third and final reading today. The legislature passed the bill to amend the act, which is currently enforced administratively, raising it to the legal level. The new legislation recognizes Confucius’ birthday on Sept. 28, the
A magnitude 5.9 earthquake that struck about 33km off the coast of Hualien City was the "main shock" in a series of quakes in the area, with aftershocks expected over the next three days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Prior to the magnitude 5.9 quake shaking most of Taiwan at 6:53pm yesterday, six other earthquakes stronger than a magnitude of 4, starting with a magnitude 5.5 quake at 6:09pm, occurred in the area. CWA Seismological Center Director Wu Chien-fu (吳健富) confirmed that the quakes were all part of the same series and that the magnitude 5.5 temblor was
RSS