The Ministry of Transportation and Communications is scheduled to propose an amendment to the Regulations on Establishing Traffic Signs and Indicating Lines (道路交通標誌標線號誌設置規則) to unify the colors of road lanes designated for different uses, which differ from region to region.
Under the proposed amendment, which has been forwarded to all local governments to solicit their opinions, the colors of pavements for lanes dedicated to bicycles, motorcycles and pedestrians must be brick-red, blue and light-green respectively.
The proposal could be promulgated in March next year at the earliest, the ministry said.
Current regulations leave the choice of pavement colors to the discretion of city and county governments, with Taipei choosing green pavements for its bike lanes, while New Taipei City (新北市) has opted for red.
However, the color green is also used to represent pedestrian lanes in Taipei, resulting in frequent confusion.
Department of Railways and Highways section chief Wu Wen-yi (吳文益) said the ministry’s decision to adopt uniform pavement colors was made in late September.
“The amendment, if passed by the legislature, does not mandate [city and county governments] to use colored pavements to designate different kinds of lanes. However, they are required to refer to the regulations if they are to use colored pavements,” Wu said, adding that the new amendment also included regulations governing line markings for pedestrian lanes that were based on the design of Taipei’s sidewalks.
Lauding the unification of pavement colors, National Chiao Tung University Institute of Traffic and Transportation associate professor Huang Tai-sheng (黃台生) said that from the perspective of road traffic management, different pavement colors were like varied traffic signs that had their own idiosyncratic meanings.
Colored pavements could lose their function of helping people differentiate between various road sections and cause confusion if different administrative regions were inconsistent as to which colors they used to paint their bicycle lanes, Huang said.
Turning to the effects on safety of line-marked pedestrian lanes, which are often called into question by the public, Huang said that while line-marked sidewalks may offer less protection to pedestrians compared with cement ones, they can at least help determine who is at fault in a car accident.
Echoing Huang’s opinions, Taipei City Government Traffic Engineering Office director Chen Hsueh-tai (陳學台) said that although most of the city’s 110 line-marked pedestrian lanes were set up in narrow alleys, they could undoubtedly provide a certain level of protection for road users.
Chen said the office supported the ministry’s proposed plan and would change the city’s pavement colors in accordance with the new amendment after it was stipulated.
New Taipei City Traffic Control and Engineering Division director Su Hsien-chih (蘇先知) said the city would make any changes necessary under the proposed amendment.
INCREASED CAPACITY: The flights on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays would leave Singapore in the morning and Taipei in the afternoon Singapore Airlines is adding four supplementary flights to Taipei per week until May to meet increased tourist and business travel demand, the carrier said on Friday. The addition would raise the number of weekly flights it operates to Taipei to 18, Singapore Airlines Taiwan general manager Timothy Ouyang (歐陽漢源) said. The airline has recorded a steady rise in tourist and business travel to and from Taipei, and aims to provide more flexible travel arrangements for passengers, said Ouyang, who assumed the post in July last year. From now until Saturday next week, four additional flights would depart from Singapore on Monday, Wednesday, Friday
The Ministry of National Defense yesterday reported the return of large-scale Chinese air force activities after their unexplained absence for more than two weeks, which had prompted speculation regarding Beijing’s motives. China usually sends fighter jets, drones and other military aircraft around the nation on a daily basis. Interruptions to such routine are generally caused by bad weather. The Ministry of National Defense said it had detected 26 Chinese military aircraft in the Taiwan Strait over the previous 24 hours. It last reported that many aircraft on Feb. 25, when it spotted 30 aircraft, saying Beijing was carrying out another “joint combat
Taiwan successfully defended its women’s 540 kilogram title and won its first-ever men’s 640 kg title at the 2026 World Indoor Tug of War Championships in Taipei yesterday. In the women’s event, Taiwan’s eight-person squad reached the final following a round-robin preliminary round and semifinals featuring teams from Ukraine, Japan, Thailand, Vietnam, the Basque Country and South Korea. In the finals, they swept the Basque team 2-0, giving the team composed mainly of National Taiwan Normal University students and graduates its second championship in a row, and its fourth in five years. Team captain
When Paraguayan opposition lawmaker Leidy Galeano returned from an all-expenses-paid tour of six Chinese cities late last year, she was convinced Paraguay risked missing out on major economic gains by sticking with longtime ally Taipei over Beijing — a message that participants on the trip heard repeatedly from Chinese officials. “Everything I saw there, I wanted for my country,” said Galeano, a member of the newly-formed Yo Creo party whose senior figures have spoken favorably about China. This trip and others like it — which people familiar with the visits said were at the invitation of the Chinese consulate in Sao Paulo
RSS