The Taipei Market Administration Office yesterday introduced touchscreen kiosks at Xihu Market (西湖市場) that allow customers to order meals in the food court by using their smartphone to scan a quick response code.
The system was unveiled for the Taipei Traditional Market Festival, which opened at Xihu Market.
Taipei Deputy Mayor Vivian Huang (黃珊珊) said that as the market shares a building with MRT Xihu Station and receives ample foot traffic, the office last year budgeted funding to renovate the market in the hopes of attracting more visitors and making the market a tourist attraction in Neihu District (內湖).
Photo: CNA
The renovation included changing floor tiles, tables and chairs at the market’s second-floor food court; improving entry, exit and information signs and layout maps; and remodeling 15 stalls, the office said.
Five touchscreen kiosks, which were installed near entrances this week, display products sold at each food stall and provide codes that customers can scan to order meals, it said.
The market is near Neihu Technology Park (內湖科技園區) and many of the park’s workers frequent its food court, the office said, adding that it collaborated with two technology companies to introduce the point-of-sale kiosks in the hopes of making food orders more convenient and less time-consuming.
The office said that it plans to introduce the system at three other traditional markets in the second half of this year.
With the Central Epidemic Command Center easing disease prevention measures and the city’s public facilities beginning to gradually reopen to the public today, people can choose not to wear a mask if they can maintain social distancing on public transportation, Huang said.
However, vendors and visitors at the city’s public markets are still required to wear masks, she said.
FINAL COUNTDOWN: About 50,000 attended a pro-recall rally yesterday, while the KMT and the TPP plan to rally against the recall votes today Democracy activists, together with arts and education representatives, yesterday organized a motorcade, while thousands gathered on Ketagalan Boulevard in Taipei in the evening in support of tomorrow’s recall votes. Recall votes for 24 Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers and suspended Hsinchu City mayor Ann Kao (高虹安) are to be held tomorrow, while recall votes for seven other KMT lawmakers are scheduled for Aug. 23. The afternoon motorcade was led by the Spring Breeze Culture and Arts Foundation, the Tyzen Hsiao Foundation and the Friends of Lee Teng-hui Association, and was joined by delegates from the Taiwan Statebuilding Party and the Taiwan Solidarity
Instead of threatening tariffs on Taiwan-made chips, the US should try to reinforce cooperation with Taiwan on semiconductor development to take on challenges from the People’s Republic of China (PRC), a Taiwanese think tank said. The administration of US President Donald Trump has threatened to impose across-the-board import duties of 32 percent on Taiwan-made goods and levy a separate tariff on semiconductors, which Taiwan is hoping to avoid. The Research Institute for Democracy, Society, and Emerging Technology (DSET), a National Science and Technology Council think tank, said that US efforts should focus on containing China’s semiconductor rise rather than impairing Taiwan. “Without
An SOS message in a bottle has been found in Ireland that is believed to have come from the Taiwanese captain of fishing vessel Yong Yu Sing No. 18 (永裕興18號), who has been missing without a trace for over four years, along with nine Indonesian crew members. The vessel, registered to Suao (蘇澳), went missing near Hawaii on Dec. 30, 2020. The ship has since been recovered, but the 10 crew members have never been found. The captain, surnamed Lee (李), is believed to have signed the note with his name. A post appeared on Reddit on Tuesday after a man
President William Lai (賴清德) today condemned an alleged attempt by two Chinese to snatch a letter of congratulations handed to Taiwan’s taekwondo team after they won silver at the Summer World University Games in Essen, Germany, yesterday. A Chinese man and woman reportedly tried to snatch a congratulatory letter to athletes Hung Jiun-yi (洪俊義), Jung Jiun-jie (鍾俊傑) and Huang Cho-cheng (黃卓乘) from the Ministry of Education, and then argued with media employees. “Why are you taking our things?” the media employees asked. “Does that say Chinese Taipei?” the two Chinese reportedly said. Following the incident, Sports Administration Director-General Cheng Shih-chung (鄭世忠) wrote on