In an effort to solve the traffic jam around Gongguan (
The city government has been under attack for the traffic chaos that resulted from the launch of the bus lanes on Roosevelt Road. During the traffic meeting at the city hall yesterday, Taipei Deputy Mayor King Pu-tsung (
"The transportation department should learn from this experience ... I have suggested that the police form a patrol to reinforce the ban on temporary parking," King said during the meeting yesterday.
Taipei City transportation head Jason Lin (林志盈) apologized again yesterday for the oversight on traffic capacity, but argued in favor of the new bus lane policy.
"We did not treat the public like guinea pigs. This is a policy that we have planned for a long time ? Although there is an MRT station on Roosevelt Road, buses are still necessary," he said, adding that traffic has improved over the past two days.
The Roosevelt Road bus lane is the ninth bus lane launched by the city. With another one on Zhong-xiao East and West roads slated to be launched in August, transportation experts said that the department should have learned its lesson in adjusting bus routes and begin promoting the new bus lanes early to prevent the same problem from recurring.
"Buses that run in the exclusive lanes should be running an arterial route, rather than going around and making many circuits," Luo Shiaw-shyan (羅孝賢), a transportation professor at Tamkang University, said yesterday during a tour of the Roosevelt Road bus lane.
The bus lane on Zhongxiao East and West roads is the city's traffic hub. Luo suggested that the city government adjust most of the bus routes and have as many buses as possible use this exclusive lane.
While the government is responsible for improving the city's traffic, Chang Sheng-hsiung (張勝雄), chair of transportation management at Tamkang University, said residents should also share the responsibility by making more use of public transportation.
Tropical Storm Nari is not a threat to Taiwan, based on its positioning and trajectory, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Nari has strengthened from a tropical depression that was positioned south of Japan, it said. The eye of the storm is about 2,100km east of Taipei, with a north-northeast trajectory moving toward the eastern seaboard of Japan, CWA data showed. Based on its current path, the storm would not affect Taiwan, the agency said.
The Taipei Department of Health’s latest inspection of fresh fruit and vegetables sold in local markets revealed a 25 percent failure rate, with most contraventions involving excessive pesticide residues, while two durians were also found to contain heavy metal cadmium at levels exceeding safety limits. Health Food and Drug Division Director Lin Kuan-chen (林冠蓁) yesterday said the agency routinely conducts inspections of fresh produce sold at traditional markets, supermarkets, hypermarkets, retail outlets and restaurants, testing for pesticide residues and other harmful substances. In its most recent inspection, conducted in May, the department randomly collected 52 samples from various locations, with testing showing
The cosponsors of a new US sanctions package targeting Russia on Thursday briefed European allies and Ukraine on the legislation and said the legislation would also have a deterrent effect on China and curb its ambitions regarding Taiwan. The bill backed by US senators Lindsey Graham and Richard Blumenthal calls for a 500 percent tariff on goods imported from countries that buy Russian oil, gas, uranium and other exports — targeting nations such as China and India, which account for about 70 percent of Russia’s energy trade, the bankroll of much of its war effort. Graham and Blumenthal told The Associated Press
INTEL: China’s ships are mapping strategic ocean floors, including near Guam, which could aid undersea cable targeting and have military applications, a report said China’s oceanographic survey and research ships are collecting data in the Indo-Pacific region — possibly to aid submarine navigation, detect or map undersea cables, and lay naval mines — activities that could have military applications in a conflict with Taiwan or the US, a New York Times report said. The article, titled “China Surveys Seabeds Where Naval Rivals May One Day Clash,” was written by Chris Buckley and published on Thursday. Starboard Maritime Intelligence data revealed that Chinese research ships last year repeatedly scanned the ocean floor east of Taiwan’s maritime border, and about 400km east and west of Guam; “waters that
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