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 military has spotted two Chinese warships operating in waters near Penghu County in the Taiwan Strait and sent its own naval and air forces to monitor the vessels, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said. Beijing sends warships and warplanes into the waters and skies around Taiwan on an almost daily basis, drawing condemnation from Taipei. While the ministry offers daily updates on the locations of Chinese military aircraft, it only rarely gives details of where Chinese warships are operating, generally only when it detects aircraft carriers, as happened last week. A Chinese destroyer and a frigate entered waters to the southwest
A magnitude 6.1 earthquake struck off the coast of Yilan County at 8:39pm tonight, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, with no immediate reports of damage or injuries. The epicenter was 38.7km east-northeast of Yilan County Hall at a focal depth of 98.3km, the CWA’s Seismological Center said. The quake’s maximum intensity, which gauges the actual physical effect of a seismic event, was a level 4 on Taiwan’s 7-tier intensity scale, the center said. That intensity level was recorded in Yilan County’s Nanao Township (南澳), Hsinchu County’s Guansi Township (關西), Nantou County’s Hehuanshan (合歡山) and Hualien County’s Yanliao (鹽寮). An intensity of 3 was
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s comment last year on Tokyo’s potential reaction to a Taiwan-China conflict has forced Beijing to rewrite its invasion plans, a retired Japanese general said. Takaichi told the Diet on Nov. 7 last year that a Chinese naval blockade or military attack on Taiwan could constitute a “survival-threatening situation” for Japan, potentially allowing Tokyo to exercise its right to collective self-defense. Former Japan Ground Self-Defense Force general Kiyofumi Ogawa said in a recent speech that the remark has been interpreted as meaning Japan could intervene in the early stages of a Taiwan Strait conflict, undermining China’s previous assumptions
Taiwan Railways Corp (TRC) today announced that Shin Kong Mitsukoshi has been selected as the preferred bidder to operate the Taipei Railway Station shopping mall, replacing the current operator, Breeze Development Co Ltd. Among eight qualified firms that delivered presentations and were evaluated by a review committee, Shin Kong Mitsukoshi was ranked first, while Breeze was named the runner-up, the rail company said in a statement. Contract negotiations are to proceed in accordance with regulations, it said, adding that if negotiations with the top bidder fail, it could invite the second-ranked applicant to enter talks. Breeze in a statement today expressed doubts over
RSS