Thu, Jun 08, 2000 page2

• Taipei to `nickname' city's streets

  A FRIENDLIER CITY Tourists bewildered by Chinese road names may soon have a new way to navigate Taipei when a city government initiative to number streets, coupled with a new tourist map, takes effect shortly

  • By Ko Shu-ling / STAFF REPORTER
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  The Taipei City Government yesterday introduced a new numbering system for the city's road names in a bid to help foreigners identify and remember street names more easily.

  "What we're doing here is something meaningful and innovative," said Taipei City Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday at the introduction ceremony.

  "We're not stupid. We're not changing all the street names. Instead we're giving nicknames to some major roads ? We hope the new system will help expatriates and especially foreign tourists find it easier to identify and remember the street names in Taipei."

  

  One of the new plastic Taipei street maps, designed to help foreign visitors find their way around the city more easily. The front features a simplified street plan, with both old and new road names, while the flip side lists key tourist attractions and important landmarks.

  Starting in late June, the city's 10 major east-west roads -- from Hoping Road to Mintsu Road -- will have a number and be known as a boulevard. For instance, Nanjing Road will be known as 7B.

  The 14 major north-south roads -- from Huanho Road to Keelung Road -- will also have numbers and be known as avenues. For example Chungshan Road will be 6A under the new system.

  Ma said the new system is not intended to trouble to city residents.

  "They [city residents] don't have to worry about having to memorize the new names because they don't find Chinese road names confusing and hard to remember," he said.

  The new system was first proposed by Stanley Yen (嚴長壽), chairman of the Taiwan Visitors Association, who said it was necessary to start up the new system as soon as possible.

  "I often receive complaints in my office about the city's confusing road names. As Taipei sees a growing number of international visitors, we would like to create a traveler friendly and barrier free city for them," he said.

  To help foreigners who don't speak or read Chinese to better get around in the city, Yen said, the association will team up with the city's transportation and civil affairs bureaus to publish a total of 100,000 plastic reference maps and distribute them to the city's 60,000 taxi drivers.

  The reference maps contain a simplified city map with old and new street names on one side and major tourist attractions and landmarks printed in Chinese, English and Japanese on the other.

  Kai Wiechmann, a traveling photographer from Germany, said the new initiative appears to be a good idea for a first-time and short-term visitor such as him.

  "I think it might help foreign travelers a lot," he said. "I personally haven't had much trouble finding my way around since I was here last Thursday. The only difficulty I have is the language."

  Matthew Tamney, a business owner who has been in Taiwan for about 11 years, also approved of the new system. "It's very much similar to that in New York City where I'm originally from. I hope it works just as well," he said. "The new system makes it easier to remember street names, most of which contain directions, making it confusing at first."

  Vitas Raskevicius, a Canadian university teacher who has been living here for about three years, said the new system simply did not make sense.

  "This is a practical issue. I don't see how any additional names can be of any use," he said. "A new system is bound to contribute to confusion, and there's too much trouble to learn all the new names." He also hit out at the current confusing spelling system.

  "The city should be embarrassed about the spelling," he said. "It's ridiculous to have such inconsistency in the English transcription of the street names. What they should have done is to keep the names and just spell them consistently."
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