Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) Taipei City Councilor Chen Chien-ming (陳建銘) yesterday urged the city government to step up efforts to address traffic and environmental problems caused by the popular mobile phone game Pokemon Go in Beitou District (北投).
Beitou Park has become a popular destination for gamers because of the higher probability of capturing rare Pokemon creatures there.
Time magazine’s Web site on Monday posted a report titled “Pokemon Go may have just shown us what the end of the world looks like,” with a video showing thousands of gamers flocking to Beitou in the hope of catching the “Snorlax” character.
Photo: Kuo Yi, Taipei Times
Citing Taipei City Government statistics, Chen said that over the past two weeks, authorities handed out more than 520 tickets to Pokemon Go gamers for traffic violations and littering.
The Taipei Police Department said that from Aug. 11 to Monday, it handed out 474 tickets for illegal parking and 46 for running a red light or wrong-way driving.
Taipei Parks and Street Lights Office senior specialist Hung Yan-ping (洪燕萍) said that visitors to Beitou Park usually leave about 20 bags of trash on weekdays and 40 bags on weekends.
Those numbers have recently skyrocketed to 60 and 130 respectively, she said.
Hung said the office has added five large trash cans in the park, adding that the same measure would be taken in other parks if they become overrun by gamers.
The Taipei Department of Environmental Protection levied 20 fines totaling NT$24,000 on smokers who threw cigarette butts on the ground during the same period.
A sanitation worker surnamed Chang (張) said that some gamers left plastic bags used for food containing liquids, which gave off a foul stench in the summer heat.
Chen urged the city government to monitor and collate hot spots where game elements abound, and deploy police and employees to direct traffic there.
He also called on gamers to show empathy and avoid getting in the way of traffic or affecting district residents’ quality of living.
He said that, with proper management, the city government could turn the Pokemon Go craze to its favor by using it to promote tourism and attract interest in next year’s Universiade.
For example, the city can work with bed and breakfasts to create Pokemon Go tours to attract tourists, he said.
Taipei Police Department Beitou Precinct Deputy Chief Wang Cheng-ting (王正廷) said that many police officers have downloaded the Poke Radar app to monitor Pokemon Go hot spots.
The precinct dispatches 28 officers on weekdays and 38 officers on weekends to direct traffic and deal with violations associated with the game, Wang said.
He said that the precinct is planning to contact the game’s developer to ask that game elements in the district be reduced to alleviate the crowd.
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