Nearly 30,000 Taipei residents celebrated 2008 World Car-free Day yesterday by riding bicycles 16km from Taipei City Hall to a riverside plaza near National Taiwan University.
Among the cyclists were many executives and Taipei City Council members. They rode along two of the city’s main roads — which were off-limits to cars and scooters — and then passed through the National Taiwan University campus before taking the riverside bike route between Gongguan and the Jingmei Bridge.
The Car-free Day celebration also includes live music and free coffee for EasyCard holders in Taipei’s Xinyi business district today. The district will restrict traffic from 7am to 5pm, during which no private cars or motorcycles will be allowed.
PHOTO: CHANG CHIA-MING, TAIPEI TIMES
People using EasyCards on buses passing through the Xinyi district during the period can ride for free rides.
In Taichung City, 5,000 cyclists rode in a car-free environment from a soccer stadium to a section of the elevated expressway between Taichung and Changhua.
Kaohsiung City marked World Car-free Day on Saturday, with residents riding bicycles 6.5km from Central Park to the Kaohsiung Cultural Center.
Taipei has marked World Car-free Day since 2002, while Taichung and Kaohsiung began in 2003.
Taiwan is to receive the first batch of Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 jets from the US late this month, a defense official said yesterday, after a year-long delay due to a logjam in US arms deliveries. Completing the NT$247.2 billion (US$7.69 billion) arms deal for 66 jets would make Taiwan the third nation in the world to receive factory-fresh advanced fighter jets of the same make and model, following Bahrain and Slovakia, the official said on condition of anonymity. F-16 Block 70/72 are newly manufactured F-16 jets built by Lockheed Martin to the standards of the F-16V upgrade package. Republic of China
Taiwan-Japan Travel Passes are available for use on public transit networks in the two countries, Taoyuan Metro Corp said yesterday, adding that discounts of up to 7 percent are available. Taoyuan Metro, the Taipei MRT and Japan’s Keisei Electric Railway teamed up to develop the pass. Taoyuan Metro operates the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport MRT Line, while Keisei Electric Railway offers express services between Tokyo’s Narita Airport, and the Keisei Ueno and Nippori stations in the Japanese capital, as well as between Narita and Haneda airports. The basic package comprises one one-way ticket on the Taoyuan MRT Line and one Skyliner ticket on
Many Japanese couples are coming to Taiwan to obtain donated sperm or eggs for fertility treatment due to conservatism in their home country, Taiwan’s high standards and low costs, doctors said. One in every six couples in Japan is receiving infertility treatment, Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare data show. About 70,000 children are born in Japan every year through in vitro fertilization (IVF), or about one in every 11 children born. Few people accept donated reproductive cells in Japan due to a lack of clear regulations, leaving treatment in a “gray zone,” Taichung Nuwa Fertility Center medical director Wang Huai-ling (王懷麟)
PROXIMITY: Prague is closer to Dresden than Berlin is, so Taiwanese firms are expected to take advantage of the Czech capital’s location, the Executive Yuan official said Taiwan plans to boost cooperation with the Czech Republic in semiconductor development due to Prague’s pivotal role in the European IC industry, Executive Yuan Secretary-General Kung Ming-hsin (龔明鑫) said. With Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) building a wafer fab in the German city of Dresden, a Germany-Czech Republic-Poland “silicon triangle” is forming, Kung said in a media interview on the weekend after returning from a visit to Prague. “Prague is closer to Dresden than Berlin is, so Taiwanese firms are expected to take advantage of the Czech capital’s location,” he said. “Taiwan and Prague have already launched direct flights and it is