A Taipei city bus crashed into a covered walkway in Xinyi District (信義) on Wednesday, injuring two people and incurring a NT$30,000 fine for the bus operator, the city government said.
Taipei emergency responders at 12:11pm received notice of a Xinyi Main Line bus bound for Taipei Railway Station crashing into the covered walkway outside a hot pot restaurant on Zhongpo S Road.
Two pedestrians sustained bruises and lacerations to the head and feet respectively, while no one at the restaurant or in the bus was harmed.
Photo copied by Chiu Chun-fu, Taipei Times
A city official in charge of public transportation oversight told reporters that the driver had not been drinking alcohol, and had been working for about five hours after having a day off the previous day.
As the crash resulted in injuries, the bus operator, Capital Bus, would be fined NT$30,000 and required to submit an accident report as stipulated in the Highway Act (公路法), the official said.
Capital Bus general manager Lee Chien-wen (李建文) said that the driver reported feeling dizzy and having difficulty breathing at the time of the crash, adding that the company would help arrange for a medical evaluation.
Lee also apologized to the injured pedestrians and owners of the restaurant and the building, vowing to pay for damages.
Meanwhile, engineers determined there was no significant damage to the building, the Taipei City Government said, adding that the bus would be towed after the rain cover and billboards are removed.
The Grand Hotel Taipei on Saturday confirmed that its information system had been illegally accessed and expressed its deepest apologies for the concern it has caused its customers, adding that the issue is being investigated by the Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau. The hotel said that on Tuesday last week, it had discovered an external illegal intrusion into its information system. An initial digital forensic investigation confirmed that parts of the system had been accessed, it said, adding that the possibility that some customer data were stolen and leaked could not be ruled out. The actual scope and content of the affected data
DO THEY BITE IT? Cats have better memories than people might think, but their motivation is based entirely around the chance of getting fed Cats can remember the identity of the people who fed them the day before, Taipei-based veterinarians said on Friday, debunking a popular myth that cats have a short memory. If a stray does not recognize the person who fed them the previous day, it is likely because they are not carrying food and the cat has no reason to recognize them, said Wu Chou Animal Hospital head Chen Chen-huan (陳震寰). “When cats come to a human bearing food, it is coming for the food, not the person,” he said. “The food is the key.” Since the cat’s attention is on the food, it
‘LIKE-MINDED PARTNER’: Tako van Popta said it would be inappropriate to delay signing the deal with Taiwan because of China, adding he would promote the issue Canadian senators have stressed Taiwan’s importance for international trade and expressed enthusiasm for ensuring the Taiwan-Canada trade cooperation framework agreement is implemented this year. Representative to Canada Harry Tseng (曾厚仁) in an interview with the Central News Agency (CNA) said he was increasingly uneasy about Ottawa’s delays in signing the agreement, especially as Ottawa has warmed toward Beijing. There are “no negotiations left. Not only [is it] initialed, we have three versions of the text ready: English, French and Mandarin,” Tseng said. “That tells you how close we are to the final signature.” Tseng said that he hoped Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney
President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday bestowed one of Taiwan’s highest honors on Saint Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) Ambassador Andrea Clare Bowman in recognition of her contributions to bilateral ties. “By conferring the Order of Brilliant Star with Grand Cordon on Ambassador Bowman today, I want to sincerely thank her, on behalf of the Taiwanese people, for her outstanding contribution to deepening diplomatic ties between Taiwan and SVG,” Lai said at a ceremony held at the Presidential Office in Taipei. He noted that Bowman became SVG’s first ambassador to Taiwan in 2019 and