The new Taipei Bus Station, the biggest bus terminal in the city, opened yesterday amid concerns that increased traffic would exacerbate congestion on Huayin Street, Chengde Road and Civic Boulevard.
The station, located at the intersection of Chengde Road and Huayin Street, will serve as the main transportation hub for 10 bus companies running 39 routes to Ilan County and cities, as well as counties south of Hsinchu.
Five other bus companies providing 10 routes to Taoyuan County and cities and counties north of Taoyuan will continue to use the old bus station on Chongqing N Road.
PHOTO: HUNG MIN-LUNG, TAIPEI TIMES
No serious traffic jams were reported around the station yesterday.
Liang Heng-de (梁恒德), assistant director of the Department of Transportation’s public transportation office, said the department and all bus companies had held a trial run during the past two months, which accounted for the smooth launch of operations.
The Traffic Police Division dispatched about 40 traffic police to the area to prevent traffic jams.
Most passengers taking buses at the station yesterday welcomed the comfortable environment of the new station, but complained about unclear signs.
“It took us a while to find the entrance to the station and we had to walk a long way from Taipei Main Station to take a bus here. It is quite inconvenient,” a female passenger surnamed Lin said.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Taipei City Councilor Chen Yu-mei (陳玉梅) expressed her concerns about serious traffic congestion around the station during weekends and rush hour, as several hundred buses would be entering and exiting the station every day, increasing traffic on the already crowded Chengde Road and Civic Boulevard.
Commissioner of the transportation department Luo Shiaw-shyan (羅孝賢) said the city would enforce overpass entrance controls on Civic Boulevard and other measures to avoid problems.
The bus station has 30 ticketing counters on the first floor and 32 platforms on the second, third and fourth floors. The 24-story building also features a shopping area, movie theater and hotel, which are scheduled to open next month.
To celebrate the opening of the station, the underground parking lot on Civil Boulevard will be free for scooters until Sept. 10.
A year-long renovation of Taipei’s Bangka Park (艋舺公園) began yesterday, as city workers fenced off the site and cleared out belongings left by homeless residents who had been living there. Despite protests from displaced residents, a city official defended the government’s relocation efforts, saying transitional housing has been offered. The renovation of the park in Taipei’s Wanhua District (萬華), near Longshan Temple (龍山寺), began at 9am yesterday, as about 20 homeless people packed their belongings and left after being asked to move by city personnel. Among them was a 90-year-old woman surnamed Wang (王), who last week said that she had no plans
China might accelerate its strategic actions toward Taiwan, the South China Sea and across the first island chain, after the US officially entered a military conflict with Iran, as Beijing would perceive Washington as incapable of fighting a two-front war, a military expert said yesterday. The US’ ongoing conflict with Iran is not merely an act of retaliation or a “delaying tactic,” but a strategic military campaign aimed at dismantling Tehran’s nuclear capabilities and reshaping the regional order in the Middle East, said National Defense University distinguished adjunct lecturer Holmes Liao (廖宏祥), former McDonnell Douglas Aerospace representative in Taiwan. If
TO BE APPEALED: The environment ministry said coal reduction goals had to be reached within two months, which was against the principle of legitimate expectation The Taipei High Administrative Court on Thursday ruled in favor of the Taichung Environmental Protection Bureau in its administrative litigation against the Ministry of Environment for the rescission of a NT$18 million fine (US$609,570) imposed by the bureau on the Taichung Power Plant in 2019 for alleged excess coal power generation. The bureau in November 2019 revised what it said was a “slip of the pen” in the text of the operating permit granted to the plant — which is run by Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) — in October 2017. The permit originally read: “reduce coal use by 40 percent from Jan.
‘SPEY’ REACTION: Beijing said its Eastern Theater Command ‘organized troops to monitor and guard the entire process’ of a Taiwan Strait transit China sent 74 warplanes toward Taiwan between late Thursday and early yesterday, 61 of which crossed the median line in the Taiwan Strait. It was not clear why so many planes were scrambled, said the Ministry of National Defense, which tabulated the flights. The aircraft were sent in two separate tranches, the ministry said. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday “confirmed and welcomed” a transit by the British Royal Navy’s HMS Spey, a River-class offshore patrol vessel, through the Taiwan Strait a day earlier. The ship’s transit “once again [reaffirmed the Strait’s] status as international waters,” the foreign ministry said. “Such transits by