Taichung residents have registered more than 1.11 million cars, far exceeding the number of parking spaces in the city, leading to complaints about parking, a source said Saturday.
Residents have also registered nearly 1.74 million scooters and motorcycles, but there are only 145,000 parking spaces for cars and trucks, and 146,000 spaces for scooters — far fewer than residents need, the source said.
Facing budget constraints, the city only has about NT$1.4 billion (US$49.1 million) annually to handle parking-related expenses, including personnel, management and maintenance costs, Taichung Parking Management Office Director Lee Chun-hsien (李春賢) said.
Photo: Tsai Shu-yuan, Taipei Times
About NT$500 million of the office’s budget is used for adding parking spaces wherever it can find unused public land to do so, he said.
When possible, it works with owners of private properties to acquire more public parking, he said, citing an underground parking facility at Shuian Temple in the city’s Nantun District (南屯), a lot next to a Pxmart in Houli District (后里) and a motorcycle parking facility next to Taroko Mall in East District (東區).
The city government has been looking to add parking along Taichung’s busiest roads, Taichung Transportation Bureau Director-General Yeh Chao-fu (葉昭甫) said.
This year, it added parking along Meichuan E Road, Fuke Road, Hansi E Road, Defu Road and Huanjhong E Road, as well as at Sansin Park and other high-traffic areas, he said.
The bureau was also building multistory parking garages throughout the city, and has so far spent NT$5.5 billion building 19 facilities — of which 15 were funded through the central government’s Forward-looking Infrastructure Development Program, he said.
A facility in the city’s Tanzih District (潭子) is to be completed before the end of this month, he said.
Facilities in Central District (中區) and Dali District (大里) have been put up for bidding, and another seven are in the planning stages, he said.
The parking facilities would provide an additional 4,604 parking spaces for cars and trucks and 2,808 for scooters when they are complete, he added.
To attract more people to move to Taichung, the city government would continue to add more parking, Yeh said.
To prevent people from abusing free parking spaces by using them for long-term parking, the city would also monitor those spaces and convert them to paid parking if necessary, he added.
The Grand Hotel Taipei on Saturday confirmed that its information system had been illegally accessed and expressed its deepest apologies for the concern it has caused its customers, adding that the issue is being investigated by the Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau. The hotel said that on Tuesday last week, it had discovered an external illegal intrusion into its information system. An initial digital forensic investigation confirmed that parts of the system had been accessed, it said, adding that the possibility that some customer data were stolen and leaked could not be ruled out. The actual scope and content of the affected data
DO THEY BITE IT? Cats have better memories than people might think, but their motivation is based entirely around the chance of getting fed Cats can remember the identity of the people who fed them the day before, Taipei-based veterinarians said on Friday, debunking a popular myth that cats have a short memory. If a stray does not recognize the person who fed them the previous day, it is likely because they are not carrying food and the cat has no reason to recognize them, said Wu Chou Animal Hospital head Chen Chen-huan (陳震寰). “When cats come to a human bearing food, it is coming for the food, not the person,” he said. “The food is the key.” Since the cat’s attention is on the food, it
A New York-based NGO has launched a global initiative to rename the nation’s overseas missions, most of which operate under the name "Taipei," to "Taiwan Representative Office (TRO)," according to a news release. Ming Chiang (江明信), CEO of Hello Taiwan, announced the campaign at a news conference in Berlin on Monday, coinciding with the World Forum held from Monday through Wednesday, the institution stated in the release. Speaking at the event, Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Huang Jie (黃捷) said she believed this renaming campaign would enable the international community to see Taiwan
TOO DANGEROUS: The families agreed to suspend crewed recovery efforts that could put rescuers in danger from volcanic gases and unstable terrain The bodies of two Taiwanese tourists and a Japanese pilot have been located inside a volcanic crater, Japanese authorities said yesterday, nearly a month after a sightseeing helicopter crashed during a flight over southwestern Japan. Drone footage taken at the site showed three bodies near the wreckage of the aircraft inside a crater on Mount Aso in Kumamoto Prefecture, police and fire officials said. The helicopter went missing on Jan. 20 and was later found on a steep slope inside the Nakadake No. 1 Crater, about 50m below the rim. Authorities said that conditions at the site made survival highly unlikely, and ruled
RSS