The Taipei County Government will spend NT$770 million (US$23.94 million) before the end of next year to improve the county’s cycle path network to encourage people to commute by bicycle, Taipei County Commissioner Chou Hsi-wei (周錫瑋) said yesterday.
Chou made the announcement at the Bitan Scenic Park while hosting a ceremony to launch activities to mark International Car Free Day, which promotes a pollution-free living environment.
Chou urged people to drive less and cycle more to save energy, while pledging to build a low-carbon city with a cycle trail network that would eventually stretch for 128km.
PHOTO: CHANG CHUNG-YI, TAIPEI TIMES
The day’s activities featured a green market at the Bitan park, with booths displaying green energy and technologies.
In Kaohsiung City, Mayor Chen Chu (陳菊) joined thousands of residents to mark Car Free Day.
In a speech, Chen said that although Kaohsiung is an industrial city, its residents can be proud of the fact that it will have more than 150km of bicycle paths by the end of the year.
Through the government’s promotional efforts, the number of cyclists in Kaohsiung had risen significantly in recent years, Chu said.
To mark Car Free Day, the city government launched a new policy whereby people carrying folding bicycles on city buses would no longer be charged an extra fee.
A strong continental cold air mass and abundant moisture bringing snow to mountains 3,000m and higher over the past few days are a reminder that more than 60 years ago Taiwan had an outdoor ski resort that gradually disappeared in part due to climate change. On Oct. 24, 2021, the National Development Council posted a series of photographs on Facebook recounting the days when Taiwan had a ski resort on Hehuanshan (合歡山) in Nantou County. More than 60 years ago, when developing a branch of the Central Cross-Island Highway, the government discovered that Hehuanshan, with an elevation of more than 3,100m,
Death row inmate Huang Lin-kai (黃麟凱), who was convicted for the double murder of his former girlfriend and her mother, is to be executed at the Taipei Detention Center tonight, the Ministry of Justice announced. Huang, who was a military conscript at the time, was convicted for the rape and murder of his ex-girlfriend, surnamed Wang (王), and the murder of her mother, after breaking into their home on Oct. 1, 2013. Prosecutors cited anger over the breakup and a dispute about money as the motives behind the double homicide. This is the first time that Minister of Justice Cheng Ming-chien (鄭銘謙) has
TRANSPORT CONVENIENCE: The new ticket gates would accept a variety of mobile payment methods, and buses would be installed with QR code readers for ease of use New ticketing gates for the Taipei metro system are expected to begin service in October, allowing users to swipe with cellphones and select credit cards partnered with Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC), the company said on Tuesday. TRTC said its gates in use are experiencing difficulty due to their age, as they were first installed in 2007. Maintenance is increasingly expensive and challenging as the manufacturing of components is halted or becoming harder to find, the company said. Currently, the gates only accept EasyCard, iPass and electronic icash tickets, or one-time-use tickets purchased at kiosks, the company said. Since 2023, the company said it
Ferry operators are planning to provide a total of 1,429 journeys between Taiwan proper and its offshore islands to meet increased travel demand during the upcoming Lunar New Year holiday, the Maritime and Port Bureau said yesterday. The available number of ferry journeys on eight routes from Saturday next week to Feb. 2 is expected to meet a maximum transport capacity of 289,414 passengers, the bureau said in a news release. Meanwhile, a total of 396 journeys on the "small three links," which are direct ferries connecting Taiwan's Kinmen and Lienchiang counties with China's Fujian Province, are also being planned to accommodate
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