Small businesses in Taipei’s older districts are concerned that the sudden influx of visitors since the Luzhou Line began operating earlier this month may only be a short-term boon for the local economy, with the one-month free trial of the new MRT line ending on Thursday.
At the inauguration of the line connecting downtown Taipei City with Taipei County across the Tamsui River, President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said the new line would usher in a cultural renaissance and boost businesses in some of the oldest parts of Taipei.
However, residents of Datong (大同) and Zhongshan (中山) districts — two of the first settlements in what is now Taipei City and at one time the area’s commercial center — are not so optimistic.
PHOTO: CNA
“We are not sure how long the ‘Luzhou Line momentum’ is going to last,” said Wu Ming-hsueh, head of an association of businesses that oversee the tourist night market on Yanping N Road Sec 3 in Datong District.
“We have seen an average 30 percent increase in turnover in the past few weeks,” Wu said. “But most of the visitors came here by chance because they wanted to explore the area for free.”
For those in the Qingguang Commercial Zone — an old-style market in Zhongshan District that has been offering imported goods since the 1960s — commercial prospects after the Luzhou Line’s trial run look slim.
“I don’t even know if the crowds on some weekends are brought by the Luzhou Line or the flora expo,” said Chang Ching-i, a vendor who’s been selling soya-mixed meat for more than 10 years.
He was referring to the Taipei International Flora Expo, which opened this month.
“I would rather count on regulars because the crowds might just be passers-by,” he said.
Nevertheless, experts said it’s only a matter of time before these areas benefit from the opening of the Luzhou Line.
A more convenient transportation system will eventually boost interaction between old and new communities, as well as attract urban renewal projects and business opportunities, said Mai I-an (麥怡安), a section chief of the Urban Regeneration R&D Foundation.
“It will take years to see how old communities are revived by a better transportation network,” he said.
“Whether the trip is free doesn’t really make a difference,” he said.
A 72-year-old man in Kaohsiung was sentenced to 40 days in jail after he was found having sex with a 67-year-old woman under a slide in a public park on Sunday afternoon. At 3pm on Sunday, a mother surnamed Liang (梁) was with her child at a neighborhood park when they found the man, surnamed Tsai (蔡), and woman, surnamed Huang (黃), underneath the slide. Liang took her child away from the scene, took photographs of the two and called the police, who arrived and arrested the couple. During questioning, Tsai told police that he had met Huang that day and offered to
LOOKING NORTH: The base would enhance the military’s awareness of activities in the Bashi Channel, which China Coast Guard ships have been frequenting, an expert said The Philippine Navy on Thursday last week inaugurated a forward operating base in the country’s northern most province of Batanes, which at 185km from Taiwan would be strategically important in a military conflict in the Taiwan Strait. The Philippine Daily Inquirer quoted Northern Luzon Command Commander Lieutenant General Fernyl Buca as saying that the base in Mahatao would bolster the country’s northern defenses and response capabilities. The base is also a response to the “irregular presence this month of armed” of China Coast Guard vessels frequenting the Bashi Channel in the Luzon Strait just south of Taiwan, the paper reported, citing a
BETTER SERVICE QUALITY: From Nov. 10, tickets with reserved seats would only be valid for the date, train and route specified on the ticket, THSRC said Starting on Nov. 10, high-speed rail passengers with reserved seats would be required to exchange their tickets to board an earlier train. Passengers with reserved seats on a specific train are currently allowed to board earlier trains on the same day and sit in non-reserved cars, but as this is happening increasingly often, and affecting quality of travel and ticket sales, Taiwan High-Speed Rail Corp (THSRC) announced that it would be canceling the policy on Nov. 10. It is one of several new measures launched by THSRC chairman Shih Che (史哲) to improve the quality of service, it said. The company also said
A magnitude 6 earthquake last night at 9:11pm struck off northeastern Yilan County, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The earthquake’s epicenter was located in waters between Toucheng Township (頭城) and Turtle Island (Gueishan Island, 龜山島), about 22.1km northeast of Yilan County Hall at a depth of 112km, CWA data showed. There were no immediate reports of damage. The earthquake’s intensity, which gauges the actual effects of a temblor, was highest in Yilan’s Dongshan (冬山) and Nanao (南澳) townships and Taipei’s Xinyi District (信義), where it measured 4 on Taiwan’s seven-tier intensity scale. It measured 3 in other areas of Yilan and Taipei, as