Traffic and housing issues were top areas of discussion yesterday in a televised forum attended by the four candidates in the Taoyuan mayoral election on Saturday next week.
Against the background of skyrocketing home prices and rent in Taipei and New Taipei City, and the opening in 2017 of the Taoyuan Airport Mass Rapid Transit (Airport MRT) line linking Taoyuan and Taipei, Taoyuan has become a popular place to relocate to.
In the eight years since Taoyuan Mayor Cheng Wen-tsan (鄭文燦) of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) took office, Taoyuan’s population has increased by 210,000, said Legislator Cheng Yun-peng (鄭運鵬), the party’s candidate for Taoyuan mayor.
Photo: CNA
Cheng Yun-peng said that under the DPP, the city has become Taiwan’s “most livable.”
If elected, he would accelerate construction of proposed public transportation projects, including the Airport MRT, and a project to put railway lines underground, Cheng Yun-peng said.
He said that the All Pass Ticket, which offers unlimited use of the Taipei MRT system and buses in Taipei and New Taipei City for NT$1,280 per month, should be extended to Taoyuan and the monthly cost reduced to NT$1,200.
“In the past eight years, Cheng Wen-tsan created ‘Taoyuanism.’ In the next eight years, I will let the other local administrations see Taoyuan as an example to learn from,” he said.
Former premier Simon Chang (張善政), the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) candidate, thanked Cheng Wen-tsan for his contributions, but said that the city is still plagued by traffic congestion, an inadequate public transportation system, low-quality public infrastructure, fire safety issues and a high crime rate.
The All Pass Tickets should be available for all forms of public transportation that link Taipei, New Taipei City and Taoyuan, including Taiwan Railways Administration, Airport MRT and bus services, Chang said.
“The race for Taoyuan mayor should not be seen as a competition between political parties,” Chang said, adding that “people should judge who would make a good mayor.“
Legislator Lai Hsiang-ling (賴香伶), the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) candidate, touted her five years of experience as director of the Taipei Department of Labor, saying that she is the only candidate without political baggage.
Lai said she sympathizes with former legislator Cheng Pao-ching (鄭寶清), who left the DPP and is running in Taoyuan as an independent, for the injustice he faced in the DPP primary.
“Are we really going to allow the DPP to continue governing in Taoyuan?” Lai asked.
Cheng Pao-ching promised to help young people become homeowners, give elderly people an annual allowance of NT$10,000, offer free school lunches and provide collateral-free loans to young entrepreneurs.
Cheng Pao-ching cast the election as a vote on democracy.
“Nobody accused President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) of betrayal when she left the KMT [sic] and joined the DPP,” Cheng Pao-ching said. “Do we have to alternate between the KMT and the DPP without an alternative? Taoyuan is the pioneer of democracy. Let us sound the trumpet for democracy.”
Fast food chain McDonald's is to raise prices by up to NT$5 on some products at its restaurants across Taiwan, starting on Wednesday next week, the company announced today. The prices of all extra value meals and sharing boxes are to increase by NT$5, while breakfast combos and creamy corn soup would go up by NT$3, the company said in a statement. The price of the main items of those meals, if ordered individually, would remain the same. Meanwhile, the price of a medium-sized lemon iced tea and hot cappuccino would rise by NT$3, extra dipping sauces for chicken nuggets would go up
Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) arrived in Taiwan yesterday ahead of upcoming AI and technology events, saying he plans to meet with clients and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家) during his visit. After landing at Taipei Songshan Airport, Huang posed for photos with fans and handed out Yakult drinks to reporters and supporters waiting at the scene, saying he has “a lot to do” during the trip. Asked about reports that Nvidia’s planned headquarters site in Taipei’s Beitou Shilin Technology Park could break ground on May 27, Huang said that if the company holds an event, he would
FUKUOKA SITUATION: Japanese media reported that the pathogen is expected to be identified by the summer, while the CDC downplayed the idea that it was hMPV A “mysterious cold-like illness” reported in Japan’s Fukuoka Prefecture does not seem to be a new disease, but Japanese authorities have been asked about the situation, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday. The Fukuoka Prefectural Medical Association on Wednesday told a news conference that a “mystery cold” that has become a hot topic on social media is “highly likely to be caused by some kind of viral infection,” Japan’s KBC News reported. “Many people are experiencing symptoms starting with a sore throat, followed by a runny nose, phlegm and a severe cough,” KBC News reported, citing association officials. Health authorities are
Carrefour Taiwan is to begin using a new name from the start of July, but it cannot divulge the name until then, the chairman of the supermarket chain's parent company said today. President Chain Store Co chairman Lo Chih-hsien (羅智先) was asked by reporters after a shareholders' meeting to confirm whether the company has settled on a new name for the supermarket brand. In March, the government-registered name of two Carrefour Taiwan branches was quietly changed to "Le Chia Kang" (樂家康) in Chinese, raising speculation that has been selected as the name. Lo said that because of local regulations and contractual obligations, the
RSS