The Taipei City Government has been asked to improve the management of the bicycle lane on Dunhua N Road as it has been turned into an illegal temporary parking space for cars and taxis.
The Dunhua N and S Road bicycle lane, which cost more than NT$100 million (US$3 million) to build, was partly launched in July, while the whole line was expected to be fully operational this month.
The 4.6km lane, which is marked off with green, red and gray paint, however, is largely occupied by cars and taxis, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Taipei City Councilor Wang Chih-ping (汪志冰) said, urging the city government to stop ignoring the situation and clamp down on illegal parking along the lane.
Wang said she received many complaints from cyclists, saying that the situation was particularly bad at the corner of Nanjing E Road and Bade Road, where KTVs, hotels and a shopping area are situated, adding that the section is blocked 24 hours a day by parked taxis waiting for customers.
“The lane is always occupied by cars and the situation keeps deteriorating, but we have yet to see police clamp down on illegal parking. The money and effort to build the lane will be in vain if the city government fails to take the situation seriously,” she said.
Wang criticized the city government for turning the lane into a “parking lot” and challenged it for failing to promote its proper use.
“It’s as if the city government was afraid of telling people the lane is complete. The city government’s responsibility doesn’t end with construction. The promotion of the lane and its management are equally important,” she said.
Hsieh Ming-hung (謝銘鴻), chief engineer at the Taipei City Department of Transportation’s traffic engineering office, said the department had set up pickup/drop off zones next to the lane and would seek cooperation from police in clamping down on illegal parking.
Commissioner of the transportation department, Luo Shiaw-shyan (羅孝賢), said the department would promote the lane and encourage drivers to respect cyclists.
The bicycle lane project will also be expanded to Xinyi Road and Nanjing E Road after the MRT’s Xinyi and Songshan lines are completed, he said.
The Chinese military has built landing bridge ships designed to expand its amphibious options for a potential assault on Taiwan, but their combat effectiveness is limited due to their high vulnerability, a defense expert said in an analysis published on Monday. Shen Ming-shih (沈明室), a research fellow at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said that the deployment of such vessels as part of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Navy’s East Sea Fleet signals a strong focus on Taiwan. However, the ships are highly vulnerable to precision strikes, which means they could be destroyed before they achieve their intended
About 4.2 million tourist arrivals were recorded in the first half of this year, a 10 percent increase from the same period last year, the Tourism Administration said yesterday. The growth continues to be consistent, with the fourth quarter of this year expected to be the peak in Taiwan, the agency said, adding that it plans to promote Taiwan overseas via partnerships and major events. From January to June, 9.14 million international departures were recorded from Taiwan, an 11 percent increase from the same period last year, with 3.3 million headed for Japan, 1.52 million for China and 832,962 to South Korea,
The Taiwan Experience Education Program (TEEP) has funded short-term internships in Taiwan for more than 4,500 young people from more than 40 countries since 2015, with the goal of attracting and retaining international talent, the Ministry of Education said yesterday. Fifty-five colleges launched 514 projects this year, including in fields such as semiconductors, artificial intelligence, medicine and biotechnology, green energy, and sustainability, it said. The program provides research and practical internships in Taiwan for two to six months, and offers cultural exchange and networking opportunities, the ministry said. For example, National Formosa University’s Embedded System and Autopilot Laboratory developed two solar-powered drones in
SOVEREIGNTY: The rigs show that Beijing ‘rejects Taiwan’s jurisdiction’ by building in areas where Taipei demands permission to build or alter installations Chinese oil rigs have been sighted just 26 nautical miles (42km), from Taiwan’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ) near Pratas Island (Dongsha Island, 東沙島), posing a threat to Taiwan’s sovereignty if left unchallenged, a brief published by the Jamestown Foundation on Tuesday said. Pratas Island, 444km from Kaohsiung, is northeast of the South China Sea and houses a Taiwanese garrison. The brief, titled “Rigging the Game: PRC Oil Structures Encroach on Taiwan’s Pratas Island” — referring to the People’s Republic of China — analyzed photographs and said that Beijing’s tools to pressure Taiwan now include oil rigs. “Oil rigs now constitute part of Beijing’s
RSS