Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) yesterday ordered the capital’s Department of Transportation to address accident and traffic jam “hot spots,” in addition to existing work on illegal parking hot spots.
He made his remarks during the city government’s monthly traffic report.
Department Commissioner Chung Hui-yu (鐘慧諭) said that traffic jams would be difficult to address by focusing on hot spots, because the road network is largely fixed.
Department officials also said that, because traffic deaths showed patterns of randomness, it would be difficult to achieve reductions by targeting hot spots.
Ko also expressed dissatisfaction with progress in addressing illegal parking hot spots, saying that if he did not see improvement by the end of the year, he would “settle accounts” with Chung.
“We recently began adding parking spaces, but the result is that cars have gone into alleyways instead,” Ko said.
Department officials said that the problem would clear up as soon as fees are charged for alleyway parking spaces later this year.
The city government is to begin charging parking fees for all city parking spaces, starting with major roads.
Department officials said addressing illegal parking was difficult, because it was concentrated in residential areas, drawing an incredulous response from Ko.
“What is so difficult about fining them?” he said.
Taiwan is to receive the first batch of Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 jets from the US late this month, a defense official said yesterday, after a year-long delay due to a logjam in US arms deliveries. Completing the NT$247.2 billion (US$7.69 billion) arms deal for 66 jets would make Taiwan the third nation in the world to receive factory-fresh advanced fighter jets of the same make and model, following Bahrain and Slovakia, the official said on condition of anonymity. F-16 Block 70/72 are newly manufactured F-16 jets built by Lockheed Martin to the standards of the F-16V upgrade package. Republic of China
Taiwan-Japan Travel Passes are available for use on public transit networks in the two countries, Taoyuan Metro Corp said yesterday, adding that discounts of up to 7 percent are available. Taoyuan Metro, the Taipei MRT and Japan’s Keisei Electric Railway teamed up to develop the pass. Taoyuan Metro operates the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport MRT Line, while Keisei Electric Railway offers express services between Tokyo’s Narita Airport, and the Keisei Ueno and Nippori stations in the Japanese capital, as well as between Narita and Haneda airports. The basic package comprises one one-way ticket on the Taoyuan MRT Line and one Skyliner ticket on
EVERYONE’S ISSUE: Kim said that during a visit to Taiwan, she asked what would happen if China attacked, and was told that the global economy would shut down Taiwan is critical to the global economy, and its defense is a “here and now” issue, US Representative Young Kim said during a roundtable talk on Taiwan-US relations on Friday. Kim, who serves on the US House of Representatives’ Foreign Affairs Committee, held a roundtable talk titled “Global Ties, Local Impact: Why Taiwan Matters for California,” at Santiago Canyon College in Orange County, California. “Despite its small size and long distance from us, Taiwan’s cultural and economic importance is felt across our communities,” Kim said during her opening remarks. Stanford University researcher and lecturer Lanhee Chen (陳仁宜), lawyer Lin Ching-chi
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