The Taipei City Government will open parts of public parking lots for taxi drivers by the end of this year in an attempt to prevent lines of taxis at roadside taxi stands from tying up traffic.
Certain parking areas near MRT stations including Jiantan Station, Shipai Station, Taipei Main Station and the Taipei Zoo station of the Maokong Gondola will be reserved for 164 roadside taxi stands by the end of this year, Taipei City’s Transportation Department said.
The city government said it will also strengthen its measures to clamp down on taxis that fail to wait in designated spots.
Luo Shiaw-shyan (羅孝賢), commissioner of the department, said high oil prices have prompted more taxi drivers to wait for the passengers at roadside taxi stands rather than drive around looking for fares.
However, long lines of taxis at taxi stands have caused serious traffic congestion and brought complaints from the public.
The department has added 800 parking spots for taxi stands this year, but there are still not enough parking spaces to accommodate the more than 60,000 taxis driving around the city every day, he said.
Luo said the department would open about 10 parking spots in the public parking lot next to MRT Jiantan Station to ease traffic jams caused by the long line of taxis near the station.
Taxi drivers can park their cars in the parking lot, and pick up their customers when they receive messages from the taxi stations.
Big shopping malls, including Sogo Department Store and Taipei 101, and several retailers such as RT-Mart have already cooperated with taxi companies to set up on-call taxi stands at the stores’ underground parking lots.
Luo said the department would seek help from the Ministry of Transportation and Communications and ask Taipei Main Station to give up some parking spots for taxis to solve traffic congestion there.
Chen Ming-cheng (陳銘政), director of Taipei City’s Traffic Police Department, said the department would strengthen the patrol efforts around the taxi stands and clamp down on drivers who park outside of designated spots.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and