Farglory Group (遠雄集團) and the Taipei City Government yesterday held the first public event at the Taipei Dome, inviting 13,000 people to watch a free baseball game to test seating, crowd flow and traffic controls at the facility.
The stadium, which has a capacity of about 40,000 people and held a closed-door test game on Tuesday, yesterday hosted an exhibition game between the nation’s Asian Baseball Championship team and U-23 Baseball World Cup training team.
Contractor Farglory said it would collect opinions from coaches, players and attendees after the game to help improve the stadium.
Photo: CNA
The Taipei City Government in 2006 signed a build-operate-transfer contract with Farglory to construct the Taipei Dome, but controversies concerning the public safety of the stadium and shopping mall complex caused work on the project to be halted several times over the past eight years.
People were allowed to enter the stadium at 11am for yesterday’s 1pm game. Staff wearing vests guided crowds at exits four and five of the nearby Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall MRT Station, as well as in the underground corridor that runs from the station to the dome.
While many attendees praised the facility for its aesthetics and comfort, some complained that the markings and signage for directions were unclear.
Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) said the city government would continue to gather opinions on all aspects of the facility, such as direction markings, crowd guidance, seating, and broadcast and stadium screen quality.
He said the traffic and crowd flow before the game was smooth, adding that most of the people arrived by bus or the MRT rail system.
The Taipei Department of Transportation said that the traffic flow around the dome was normal when people were allowed to enter from 11am, and when the crowd began to leave at about 4:22pm.
It said that 969 vehicles and 1,116 scooter parking spaces in the dome were opened for the game, but they were not filled up, as more than 80 percent of the audience arrived on foot or by public transportation.
MORE VISITORS: The Tourism Administration said that it is seeing positive prospects in its efforts to expand the tourism market in North America and Europe Taiwan has been ranked as the cheapest place in the world to travel to this year, based on a list recommended by NerdWallet. The San Francisco-based personal finance company said that Taiwan topped the list of 16 nations it chose for budget travelers because US tourists do not need visas and travelers can easily have a good meal for less than US$10. A bus ride in Taipei costs just under US$0.50, while subway rides start at US$0.60, the firm said, adding that public transportation in Taiwan is easy to navigate. The firm also called Taiwan a “food lover’s paradise,” citing inexpensive breakfast stalls
TRADE: A mandatory declaration of origin for manufactured goods bound for the US is to take effect on May 7 to block China from exploiting Taiwan’s trade channels All products manufactured in Taiwan and exported to the US must include a signed declaration of origin starting on May 7, the Bureau of Foreign Trade announced yesterday. US President Donald Trump on April 2 imposed a 32 percent tariff on imports from Taiwan, but one week later announced a 90-day pause on its implementation. However, a universal 10 percent tariff was immediately applied to most imports from around the world. On April 12, the Trump administration further exempted computers, smartphones and semiconductors from the new tariffs. In response, President William Lai’s (賴清德) administration has introduced a series of countermeasures to support affected
CROSS-STRAIT: The vast majority of Taiwanese support maintaining the ‘status quo,’ while concern is rising about Beijing’s influence operations More than eight out of 10 Taiwanese reject Beijing’s “one country, two systems” framework for cross-strait relations, according to a survey released by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Thursday. The MAC’s latest quarterly survey found that 84.4 percent of respondents opposed Beijing’s “one country, two systems” formula for handling cross-strait relations — a figure consistent with past polling. Over the past three years, opposition to the framework has remained high, ranging from a low of 83.6 percent in April 2023 to a peak of 89.6 percent in April last year. In the most recent poll, 82.5 percent also rejected China’s
PLUGGING HOLES: The amendments would bring the legislation in line with systems found in other countries such as Japan and the US, Legislator Chen Kuan-ting said Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chen Kuan-ting (陳冠廷) has proposed amending national security legislation amid a spate of espionage cases. Potential gaps in security vetting procedures for personnel with access to sensitive information prompted him to propose the amendments, which would introduce changes to Article 14 of the Classified National Security Information Protection Act (國家機密保護法), Chen said yesterday. The proposal, which aims to enhance interagency vetting procedures and reduce the risk of classified information leaks, would establish a comprehensive security clearance system in Taiwan, he said. The amendment would require character and loyalty checks for civil servants and intelligence personnel prior to