The Taipei City Government yesterday unveiled its mobile payment platform called pay.taipei.
The city’s Department of Information Technology has established the platform that can be used to pay utility bills and parking fees. Medical bills can also be paid through the service at Taipei City Hospital’s eight branches.
Speaking at a news conference yesterday morning, Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) said that Apple founder Steve Jobs might not have been aware how much the firm’s iPhones would affect everyday life.
Photo: Chu Pei-hsiung, Taipei Times
Pay.taipei integrates the city government’s various payment systems, Ko said, adding that the departments previously had to negotiate with different payment companies to manage the collection of parking, utility and medical fees.
“With the establishment of the new payment system, previous limitations on when and where bills could be paid will be overcome,” he said, adding that people will be able to make payments even at midnight.
Ko said electronic commerce and distribution is an economic trend that will change Taiwan and the world, adding that he hopes the nation can develop its e-commerce services as fast as China.
He will discuss e-commerce development when he attends the twin-city forum between Taipei and Shanghai next month, Ko said.
Services such as Uber, Airbnb and oBike should be managed, but not prohibited, because they are part of a global economic trend that cannot be stopped, Ko added.
The city government will foster the development of such platforms, he said.
“No matter the pace, the central government is moving forward; we [the city government] will not be dragged down,” he said, adding that there are many regulations that hinder development, but the city government will make efforts to develop e-commerce.
Eight restaurants in Taiwan yesterday secured a one-star rating from the Michelin Guide Taiwan for the first time, while three one-star restaurants from last year’s edition were promoted to two stars. Forty-three restaurants were awarded one star this year, including 34 in Taipei, five in Taichung and four in Kaohsiung. Hosu (好嶼), Chuan Ya (川雅), Sushi Kajin (鮨嘉仁), aMaze (心宴), La Vie by Thomas Buhner, Yuan Yi (元一) and Frassi in Taipei and Front House (方蒔) in Kaohsiung received a one-star rating for the first time. Hosu is known for innovative Taiwanese dishes, while Chuan Ya serves Sichuan cuisine and aMaze specializes
Taitung County is to launch charter flights to Malaysia at the end of this year, after setting up flights to Vietnam and Thailand, the Taitung County Government said yesterday. The new charter flight services, provided by low-cost carrier Batik Air Malaysia, would be part of five-day tour packages for visits to Taitung County or Malaysia. The Batik Air charter flight, with about 200 seats, would take Malaysian tourists to Taitung on Dec. 30 and then at 12:35pm return to Kuala Lumpur with Taiwanese tourists. Another charter flight would bring the Taiwanese home on Jan. 3 next year, arriving at 5:30pm, before taking the
Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp. (THSRC) plans to ease strained capacity during peak hours by introducing new fare rules restricting passengers traveling without reserved seats in 2026, company Chairman Shih Che (史哲) said Wednesday. THSRC needs to tackle its capacity issue because there have been several occasions where passengers holding tickets with reserved seats did not make it onto their train in stations packed with individuals traveling without a reserved seat, Shih told reporters in a joint interview in Taipei. Non-reserved seats allow travelers maximum flexibility, but it has led to issues relating to quality of service and safety concerns, especially during
STATS: Taiwan’s average life expectancy of 80.77 years was lower than that of Japan, Singapore and South Korea, but higher than in China, Malaysia and Indonesia Taiwan’s average life expectancy last year increased to 80.77 years, but was still not back to its pre-COVID-19 pandemic peak of 81.32 years in 2020, the Ministry of the Interior said yesterday. The average life expectancy last year increased the 0.54 years from 2023, the ministry said in a statement. For men and women, the average life expectancy last year was 77.42 years and 84.30 years respectively, up 0.48 years and 0.56 years from the previous year. Taiwan’s average life expectancy peaked at 81.32 years in 2020, as the nation was relatively unaffected by the pandemic that year. The metric
RSS