The Taipei City Government appears to have jumped the gun yesterday with its announcement that it has won the right to host “Velo-city Global 2016,” a major international cycling convention.
City officials said the European Cyclists’ Federation (ECF) granted the hosting right to Taipei following an inspection of the city’s cycling infrastructure and the YouBike public bicycle rental system early last month.
Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) hailed the city’s selection as recognition of the success of the YouBike and other efforts to promote cycling.
“Taipei will be the first [East] Asian city to host the event. This is an honor for us and a great recognition of Taipei’s green transportation and YouBike policies,” he said at Taipei City Hall.
However, the ECF’s Web site says the announcement of the 2016 host will be made next year. In the past, the federation has published a bid manual for the conference in four-years time in the fall, with applications to be submitted the following year. The list of short-listed candidates is then announced in the fall and the winner the following January.
For example, the EFC announced on Oct. 9 last year that Basel, Nantes and Helsinki had been shortlisted for Velo-city 2015. On Jan. 16, it announced that Nantes, France, had won.
The Taipei Times contacted the federation yesterday to check on Taipei’s announcement and received a response late last night.
“Thank you very much for your interest. As of today there is no official ECF position on the host city of Velo-city Global 2016 conference. We will soon release a common announcement with the host city,” ECF communications officer Chloe Mispelon wrote in an e-mail.
The first Velo-city was held in 1980 in Bremen, Germany. In 2010, the Velo-city conference became an annual event, with a European city hosting every odd-numbered year, while a global edition — Velo-city Global — is held every even-numbered year on one of the other six continents.
Adelaide, Australia, will host Velo-city Global 2014 in May.
The conferences bring together people involved in the policy, promotion and provision of cycling facilities and programs, including urban planners, architects, municipal officials, academics, environmentalists and industry representatives. The aim is to help spread information about cycling and transport planning and promote cycling as a mode of transportation.
Urban Development Department Director Ben Tai-ming (邊泰明) yesterday said the city government has drawn up a NT$30 million (US$1 million) budget proposal for its bid to host the five-day Velo-city Global 2016, which would include conferences, exhibitions and a cycling carnival.
Hau also said the city will continue to expand both its cycling routes and the YouBike system.
CLOSURES: Several forest recreation areas have been closed as a precaution, while some ferry and flight services have been suspended or rescheduled A land warning for Tropical Storm Danas was issued last night at 8:30pm, as the storm’s outer bands began bringing heavy rain to southeastern regions, including Hualien and Taitung counties, and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春半島), according to the Central Weather Administration (CWA). As of 9:15pm, the storm was approximately 330km west-southwest of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost tip, moving north-northeast at 10-20kph, the CWA reported. A sea warning had already been issued at 8:30am yesterday. The storm had maximum sustained winds near its center of 83kph, with gusts of up to 108kph, according to the CWA. As of 9:30pm last night, Kaohsiung, Tainan,
Taiwan yesterday said it was looking forward to attending an upcoming memorial in Japan to mark the 80th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki, a day after the Japanese city said it had retracted its previous decision to not invite Taiwan to the event. The case has been dealt with by Taiwan’s representative office in Fukuoka and the Nagasaki City Government, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. The ministry would decide who to send to the Aug. 9 event once it receives the invitation, it added. The ministry made the remarks following a Japanese media report on Saturday that said Nagasaki Mayor
POWERFUL DETERRENT: Precision fire and dispersed deployment of units would allow Taiwanese artillery to inflict heavy casualties in an invasion, a researcher said The nation’s military has boosted its self-defense capability with the establishment of a new company equipped with the US-supplied High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS). The company, part of the army’s 58th Artillery Command, is Taiwan’s first HIMARS unit. Minister of National Defense Wellington Koo (顧立雄), who presided over the formation ceremony in Taichung on Friday, called the unit a significant addition to the nation’s defensive strength, saying it would help deter adversaries from starting a war. The unit is made up of top-performing soldiers who received training in the US, according to the Ministry of National Defense. The HIMARS can be equipped with
UNILATERAL: The move from China’s aviation authority comes despite a previous 2015 agreement that any changes to flight paths would be done by consensus The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday slammed Beijing for arbitrarily opening the M503 flight route’s W121 connecting path, saying that such unilateral conduct disrespected the consensus between both sides and could destabilize the Taiwan Strait and the wider region. The condemnation came after the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) earlier yesterday announced it “has activated the W121 connecting path of the M503 flight route,” meaning that west-to-east flights are now permitted along the path. The newly activated west-to-east route is intended to “alleviate the pressure caused by the increase of flights,” China’s state-run Xinhua news agency quoted China’s Taiwan Affairs Office
RSS