Thousands of people flocked to Taipei’s Maokong Gondola yesterday as the cable car system reopened for six days of free rides following an 18-month suspension caused by damage from a typhoon.
System operator Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC) set a limit of 10,000 visitors each day starting yesterday. Passengers began lining up at the Taipei Zoo Station as early as 6am.
Chou Hsi-ze (周熙澤), 63, a Hsinchu resident who traveled to Taipei on Monday night, was the first passenger to use the gondola after he arrived at 6am.
“I am confident about the safety of the gondola and I am very excited to ride the cable car for the first time today,” he said.
Another visitor, surnamed Chang, took the gondola with her mother and sister-in-law. She said she had a wonderful time riding on the gondola before it was suspended, though she did call on the city government to take more measures to ensure its safety.
The line snaked around the station and the 10,000 spots were all taken by 3:13pm, TRTC deputy chairman Shen Chih-chang (沈志藏) said.
The test period will run through Sunday and the gondola will resume full operations on Tuesday.
Several Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Taipei City councilors yesterday criticized the city government for reopening the gondola system without ensuring its safety, casting doubt on the conclusions of the gondola inspection report, which took six months and was conducted by the Chinese Union of Professional Civil Engineer Associations.
The report concluded that it was safe to resume operations.
DPP Taipei City Councilor Hung Chien-yi (洪健益) said the city government should seek professional advice from other organizations.
“The inspection report is fake and the city government should not risk people’s lives by reopening the gondola,” Hung said.
The system, which was built during President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) term as Taipei mayor, became a popular tourist attraction soon after operations began in July 2007, but it was shut down in October 2008 after the foundations of a support pillar were eroded following a typhoon.
The city government later relocated the problematic pillar, known as Tower No. 16, to a new location.
From next week the gondola will be open from 9am to 9pm from Tuesday to Thursday, 9am to 10pm on Friday, 8:30am to 10pm on Saturdays and from 8:30am to 9pm on Sundays. The gondola will be closed on Mondays for maintenance work.
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
Former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) departed for Europe on Friday night, with planned stops in Lithuania and Denmark. Tsai arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport on Friday night, but did not speak to reporters before departing. Tsai wrote on social media later that the purpose of the trip was to reaffirm the commitment of Taiwanese to working with democratic allies to promote regional security and stability, upholding freedom and democracy, and defending their homeland. She also expressed hope that through joint efforts, Taiwan and Europe would continue to be partners building up economic resilience on the global stage. The former president was to first
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
MORE NEEDED: Recall drives against legislators in Miaoli’s two districts and Hsinchu’s second district were still a few thousand signatures short of the second-stage threshold Campaigners aiming to recall Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators yesterday said they expect success in 30 out of 35 districts where drives have passed the second-stage threshold, which would mark a record number of recall votes held at once. Hsinchu County recall campaigners yesterday announced that they reached the second-stage threshold in the recall effort against Legislator Lin Szu-ming (林思銘). A total of 26,414 signatures have been gathered over the past two months, surpassing the 10 percent threshold of 23,287 in Hsinchu County’s second electoral district, chief campaigner Hsieh Ting-ting (謝婷婷) said. “Our target is to gather an additional 1,500 signatures to reach
RSS