Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) on Friday ascribed recent traffic congestion to people parking illegally, adding that he is considering forming a policy that would impose a NT$200 fee on drivers who do not have the eTag toll system installed on their vehicles.
Ko made the remarks during a meeting with city government officials to discuss the city’s traffic policies.
Referring to the traffic congestion problem in Taipei, Ko said: “Many people park their vehicles where they are not supposed to and complain when there is a traffic jam.”
He said that many residents purchase vehicles even though they do not have their own parking spaces, and that many of them park illegally on roadsides in the hope of avoiding parking fees.
The city government in December last year began charging for all public parking spaces.
“As far as I am concerned, this has to do with residents’ sense of shame. If you park, you pay. Where do you get off thinking you could avoid paying?” Ko said.
“So, you have got to tell them: ‘You are no different from residents of backward countries [if you do not want to pay parking fees]. You are an unscrupulous resident,’” Ko said.
“We need to make residents shoulder more civic responsibility,” he added. “You cannot have everything your way. Otherwise, populism will go to your head.”
He talked of a policy to force people to install the eTag toll system in their cars to better manage parking, and that drivers who do not use the system would be made to pay a surcharge every time they park.
He said that although people would criticize the policy initially, it would prove to be successful.
“Because handwritten invoices are expensive, people complain. You need to have a stiff upper lip when facing these complaints. After a while, when everyone uses eTag, then you are safe,” Ko said.
Taiwan Solidarity Union Taipei City Councilor Chen Chien-ming (陳建銘) criticized the plan, calling it “dumbfounding.”
Chen said that eTag sensors cost NT$180,000 each, and that the city would spend about NT$9.35 billion (US$279.17 million) to install the sensors at its 52,000 parking spaces.
Chen said that, if the city were procuring the sensors on loans, the interest it would need to pay would be enough to pay parking management personnel’s salaries.
Referring to Ko’s widespread popularity among netizens and young people, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) City Councilor Wang Chih-bin (汪志冰) said in response to Ko’s “populism” remark: “Does Ko not thrive on populism? He feeds from it every day.”
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