The Taipei City Government on Tuesday said it has launched an investigation into fruit stall vendors at Shilin Night Market after allegations that another foreign visitor was overcharged.
The investigation was launched after a Taiwanese user on Dcard, a popular online discussion forum, said that a foreign friend of theirs was charged NT$400 for a bag of diced fruit at a stall in the market, Taipei Market Administration Office division chief Yang Chung-cheng (楊忠誠) said.
The story drew significant attention from local media on Tuesday.
Photo: Yang Hsin-hui, Taipei Times
Yang said he asked police to inspect fruit stalls in the market on Monday next week, and would personally lead a group of environmental and health officials to continue the inspection on Tuesday.
The city is concerned about the impact overcharging could have on the reputation of the night market, which is one of the city’s top tourist attractions, Yang said.
There are 10 licensed fruit stalls at the market and nine other makeshift stands on the periphery, Yang said, citing statistics from his office.
Since the licensed fruit vendors are monitored by the Shilin Night Market Association and have signed a pledge not to inflate prices, the overpriced fruit allegedly purchased by the foreign visitor might have been sold at a makeshift stand, he said.
Officials have yet to identify the vendor, because information about the location, quantity or type of fruit purchased was not revealed in the online post, Yang said.
Vendors must clearly label prices, inform consumers of their unit price and weight, and confirm with buyers before slicing and packing fruit, Yang said.
There have been many allegations of vendors at the night market overcharging foreign visitors, prompting several fruit vendors to sign a pledge in 2012 to use price tags and electronic scales to ensure that pricing is more transparent.
The inspection equipment and data transmission system for new robotic dogs that Taipei is planning to use for sidewalk patrols were developed by a Taiwanese company, the city’s New Construction Office said today, dismissing concerns that the China-made robots could pose a security risk. The city is bringing in smart robotic dogs to help with sidewalk inspections, Taipei Deputy Mayor Lee Ssu-chuan (李四川) said on Facebook. Equipped with a panoramic surveillance system, the robots would be able to automatically flag problems and easily navigate narrow sidewalks, making inspections faster and more accurate, Lee said. By collecting more accurate data, they would help Taipei
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
TAKING STOCK: The USMC is rebuilding a once-abandoned airfield in Palau to support large-scale ground operations as China’s missile range grows, Naval News reported The US Marine Corps (USMC) is considering new sites for stockpiling equipment in the West Pacific to harden military supply chains and enhance mobility across the Indo-Pacific region, US-based Naval News reported on Saturday. The proposed sites in Palau — one of Taiwan’s diplomatic allies — and Australia would enable a “rapid standup of stored equipment within a year” of the program’s approval, the report said, citing documents published by the USMC last month. In Palau, the service is rebuilding a formerly abandoned World War II-era airfield and establishing ancillary structures to support large-scale ground operations “as China’s missile range and magazine
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
RSS