The Directorate-General of Highways (DGH) launched a new Web site yesterday as part of the Ministry of Transportation and Communications’ campaign to encourage people to use public transport as much as possible.
Aside from a timeline of how the nation’s public bus system was started in the early 20th century, the Web site shows photographs of the bus tickets offered by different bus operators around the nation in the 1960s, as well as pictures of passengers waiting at bus stations.
The site will also publish articles about highways and public buses in different locations around the nation, including those in Greater Tainan, Greater Kaohsiung, Chiayi, Keelung, Miaoli and the nation’s outlying islands.
DGH Director-General Wu Meng-fen (吳盟分) said highway buses allow people to travel freely around the nation without having to drive.
“All you have to do is pick up your luggage and go,” Wu said. “Instead of having to deal with the hassle of driving, travelers can sit in comfort on the bus and enjoy the beautiful scenery along the way.”
Aerial photographer Chen Ming-ming (陳敏明) and writer Hau Yu-hsiang (郝譽翔) were invited to share their observations about the scenery in Taiwan on land, as well as at sea.
Chen said he often uses the bends along highway routes as a way to confirm locations for shoots.
He added that the nation’s highways have many bends and it would be a spectacular landscape if one could look at them from the ground and from the sky.
Hau said she became interested in sailing two years ago.
“The Taiwan Strait, also known as the ‘Black Ditch,’ poses a threat to boats sailing westward because of its strong north-south ocean current. However, it is one of the sea lanes in the world with the heaviest traffic. When you travel in the strait at night, you can see [beautiful scenes of] fishing boats with their lights on everywhere,” she said.
EXCUSES: Beijing is using government and research vessels as a pretext to harass the nation and enter its EEZ, and engage in ‘hegemonic expansion,’ the coast guard said The Coast Guard Administration yesterday said it drove away Chinese oceanographic research vessel Xiang Yang Hong 22 (向陽紅33) from restricted waters after warning it that it was in Taiwan’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ). The Chinese vessel entered restricted waters off the coast of Yilan County’s Suao (蘇澳) at 11:35pm on Thursday, the coast guard said, adding that it dispatched the Lanyu patrol vessel and the boat PP-10077 to shadow the Chinese ship and issue radio warnings ordering it to leave. China has no sovereignty over waters off Taiwan’s east coast, Lanyu’s crew told Xiang Yang Hong 22 over the radio, and demanded
BAIT AND SWITCH: Allowing KMT-run counties to sell to China while the threat of abrupt cancelations hangs overhead is another form of coercion, officials said Beijing is using agricultural purchase offers announced during the Straits Forum to deepen Taiwan’s dependence on the Chinese market, a Taiwanese official said yesterday as they criticized the Taitung County commissioner’s participation in the initiative. During the Straits Forum held in Xiamen on Saturday, Chinese officials announced a sales and purchase agreement for agricultural products from some counties led by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT). Taitung County Commissioner Yao Ching-ling (饒慶鈴), who was barred from attending the event in person by the Mainland Affairs Council, participated via video. Under the agreement, China would purchase atemoyas, pomeloes, tea and grouper harvested in Taitung,
Tropical Storm Mekkhala is forecast to strengthen into a typhoon tomorrow and could come close enough to Taiwan later in the week to prompt a sea warning, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 2 pm, the storm was located 1,870 kilometers southeast of Taiwan's southern tip and moving west- northwest at 23 km per hour. CWA forecaster Cheng Chieh-jen (鄭傑仁) said Mekkhala is expected to continue moving west-northwest through Tuesday under the influence of the Pacific high- pressure system before gradually turning north toward waters east of Taiwan or south of the Ryukyu Islands. The timing and angle of the
Four Taiwanese universities have been ranked among the world's top 200 institutions in the Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) World University Rankings for next year, the highest Taiwan has ever placed in the category, with National Taiwan University (NTU) achieving its best performance at 54th globally and 17th in Asia. The four Taiwanese institutions in the global top 200 are NTU (54th), National Tsing Hua University (142nd), National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University (177th) and National Cheng Kung University (191st), the rankings showed. All four universities achieved their highest-ever global rankings this year, QS data showed. National Cheng Kung University entered the top 200 for
RSS