The Taipei Department of Transportation is mulling a policy to include more commercial districts on a list of areas where scooter parking fees are levied, to encourage people to use public transportation systems and ameliorate the problem of scooters blocking sidewalks and roadsides.
Department commissioner Chung Hui-yu (鍾慧諭) yesterday said that the plan is aimed at boosting both road safety and use of the city’s public transportation systems.
Chung said that Taipei’s Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) system, public bicycle and bus systems are among the best in the world, but they have a poor uptake.
“After spending so much money [on public transportation] in the hopes of improving road safety, we have come up short. This is because regulations regarding private vehicles have been insufficient,” she said.
Chung said that with the planning of MRT lines in the Greater Taipei area nearing completion, it is unlikely that there would be a breakthrough in MRT planning before 2022, adding that the focus of her policy administration during this period would be to increase city government subsidies to bus companies and regulation of cars and scooters.
She said the department would unveil a preliminary plan in June to add more commercial districts to the list of places where scooter parking fees are charged, adding that doing so would encourage more scooter owners to use underground or elevated parking spaces near commercial districts rather than parking on roadsides.
Citing as an example two parking lots next to Nangang Station that are managed by the Taiwan Railways Administration, which have more than 1,600 scooter parking spaces combined, Chung said the lots have a usage of less than 50 percent.
She denied reports that the plan was meant to “eliminate scooters,” but to provide better management, saying: “Regulating scooters does not mean eradicating them, but making them safer and more organized.”
Meanwhile, Taipei Parking Management and Development Office Deputy Director Hsieh Ming-hung (謝銘鴻) said the office is deliberating over whether to make roadside scooter parking spaces more expensive than those in parking lots to encourage people to park in lots rather than on roadsides.
The new policies could be implemented in tandem with a gradual reduction of roadside scooter parking spaces so that road space can freed up for use by pedestrians and automobiles, Chang said.
The 9,991 scooter parking spaces overseen by the department currently charge NT$20 per use, while the two Taiwan Railways Administration-managed parking lots charge riders NT$30 per hour with an upper limit of NT$50 per day.
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