Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) yesterday asked the Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC) to make preparations for big events, after the hallway connecting the Taipei Dome to the MRT station nearby was swarmed by crowds after a baseball game.
The first match of the CPBL Taiwan Series, played by the CTBC Brothers against the Uni-President 7-Eleven Lions, was held at the Taipei Dome on Saturday. The venue was packed with 40,000 spectators, marking a record box office for a single match of the series.
However, Taipei City Councilor Lee Ming-hsien (李明賢) wrote on Facebook that he received complaints about the jostling crowd stuck at the underground passage of the Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall MRT Station connecting it to the Taipei Dome.
Photo: Screen grab from Taipei City Councilor Lee Ming-hsien’s Facebook page
“The escalator was not turned off or under control, while the crowd thronged downward to the station. It was very dangerous. Fortunately, no accidents occurred,” he said.
Lee said he had immediately requested the Ministry of Transportation and Communications and the TRTC to improve the traffic flow around the station for the match held at the Taipei Dome yesterday.
The record box office of the Taiwan Series on Saturday is a matter of pride not only for Taipei, but for all of Taiwan, Chiang said yesterday.
Regarding the crowd, Chiang said he had requested that TRTC review the problem.
Although a temporary command center was established to guide and control the crowd, preparations should be made for big events, including escalator controls, he said.
About 19,000 people entered the station from 8pm to 10pm after the match ended, TRTC said.
TRTC said it added five supplementary trains with the headway reduced to 2.5 minutes to 3 minutes and that the crowds melted away about 41 minutes after they went into the station.
A command center had 39 personnel to help and monitor the situation and the number of passers-by at the station via closed-circuit television cameras, it said.
Traffic-guiding personnel, who were posted at the entrance and exit of the downward escalator near Exit 5 of the MRT station, were controlling the number of passengers moving down from the entrance and guiding them forward, it said.
The escalator was turned off to ensure safety when the crowd reached a peak at 9:09pm, it added.
TRTC said it would continue to enhance the management of the passage and turn off the escalator ahead of peak times in the future. It also urged people to enter the station via Exit 4, where the passage is 12m wide, instead of Exit 5.
Aftershocks from a magnitude 6.2 earthquake that struck off Yilan County at 3:45pm yesterday could reach a magnitude of 5 to 5.5, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Seismological Center technical officer Chiu Chun-ta (邱俊達) told a news conference that the epicenter of the temblor was more than 100km from Taiwan. Although predicted to measure between magnitude 5 and 5.5, the aftershocks would reach an intensity of 1 on Taiwan’s 7-tier scale, which gauges the actual effect of an earthquake, he said. The earthquake lasted longer in Taipei because the city is in a basin, he said. The quake’s epicenter was about 128.9km east-southeast
GENSLER SURVEY: ‘Economic infrastructure is not enough. A city needs to inspire pride, offer moments of joy and foster a sense of belonging,’ the company said Taipei was named the city with the “highest staying power” in the world by US-based design and architecture firm Gensler. The Taiwanese capital earned the top spot among 65 cities across six continents with 64 percent of Taipei respondents in a survey of 33,000 people saying they wanted to stay in the city. Rounding out the top five were Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh City (61 percent), Singapore (59 percent), Sydney (58 percent) and Berlin (51 percent). Sixth to 10th place went to Monterrey, Mexico; Munich, Germany; Sao Paulo, Brazil; Vancouver; and Seoul. Cities in the US were ranked separately, with Minneapolis first at
The New Taipei City Government today warned about the often-overlooked dangers of playing in water, and recommended safe swimming destinations to cool off from the summer heat. The following locations in the city as safe and fun for those looking to enjoy the water: Chienshuiwan (淺水灣), Baishawan (白沙灣), Jhongjiao Bay (中角灣), Fulong Beach Resort (福隆海水浴場) and Sansia District’s (三峽) Dabao River (大豹溪), New Taipei City Tourism and Travel Department Director-General Yang Tsung-min (楊宗珉) said. Outdoor bodies of water have variables outside of human control, such as changing currents, differing elevations and environmental hazards, all of which can lead to accidents, Yang said. Sudden
Tropical Storm Podul has formed over waters north-northeast of Guam and is expected to approach the seas southeast of Taiwan next week, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said today. The 11th Pacific storm of the year developed at 2am over waters about 2,660km east of Oluanpi (歐鑾鼻), Pingtung County — Taiwan's southernmost tip. It is projected to move westward and could have its most significant impact on Taiwan on Wednesday and Thursday next week, the CWA said. The agency did not rule out the possibility of issuing a sea warning at that time. According to the CWA's latest update, Podul is drifting west-northwest
RSS