The Directorate-General of Highways (DGH) launched a new Web site yesterday as part of the Ministry of Transportation and Communications’ campaign to encourage people to use public transport as much as possible.
Aside from a timeline of how the nation’s public bus system was started in the early 20th century, the Web site shows photographs of the bus tickets offered by different bus operators around the nation in the 1960s, as well as pictures of passengers waiting at bus stations.
The site will also publish articles about highways and public buses in different locations around the nation, including those in Greater Tainan, Greater Kaohsiung, Chiayi, Keelung, Miaoli and the nation’s outlying islands.
DGH Director-General Wu Meng-fen (吳盟分) said highway buses allow people to travel freely around the nation without having to drive.
“All you have to do is pick up your luggage and go,” Wu said. “Instead of having to deal with the hassle of driving, travelers can sit in comfort on the bus and enjoy the beautiful scenery along the way.”
Aerial photographer Chen Ming-ming (陳敏明) and writer Hau Yu-hsiang (郝譽翔) were invited to share their observations about the scenery in Taiwan on land, as well as at sea.
Chen said he often uses the bends along highway routes as a way to confirm locations for shoots.
He added that the nation’s highways have many bends and it would be a spectacular landscape if one could look at them from the ground and from the sky.
Hau said she became interested in sailing two years ago.
“The Taiwan Strait, also known as the ‘Black Ditch,’ poses a threat to boats sailing westward because of its strong north-south ocean current. However, it is one of the sea lanes in the world with the heaviest traffic. When you travel in the strait at night, you can see [beautiful scenes of] fishing boats with their lights on everywhere,” she said.
CHANGING LANDSCAPE: Many of the part-time programs for educators were no longer needed, as many teachers obtain a graduate degree before joining the workforce, experts said Taiwanese universities this year canceled 86 programs, Ministry of Education data showed, with educators attributing the closures to the nation’s low birthrate as well as shifting trends. Fifty-three of the shuttered programs were part-time postgraduate degree programs, about 62 percent of the total, the most in the past five years, the data showed. National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU) discontinued the most part-time master’s programs, at 16: chemistry, life science, earth science, physics, fine arts, music, special education, health promotion and health education, educational psychology and counseling, education, design, Chinese as a second language, library and information sciences, mechatronics engineering, history, physical education
The Chinese military has boosted its capability to fight at a high tempo using the element of surprise and new technology, the Ministry of National Defense said in the Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR) published on Monday last week. The ministry highlighted Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) developments showing significant changes in Beijing’s strategy for war on Taiwan. The PLA has made significant headway in building capabilities for all-weather, multi-domain intelligence, surveillance, operational control and a joint air-sea blockade against Taiwan’s lines of communication, it said. The PLA has also improved its capabilities in direct amphibious assault operations aimed at seizing strategically important beaches,
‘MALIGN PURPOSE’: Governments around the world conduct espionage operations, but China’s is different, as its ultimate goal is annexation, a think tank head said Taiwan is facing a growing existential threat from its own people spying for China, experts said, as the government seeks to toughen measures to stop Beijing’s infiltration efforts and deter Taiwanese turncoats. While Beijing and Taipei have been spying on each other for years, experts said that espionage posed a bigger threat to Taiwan due to the risk of a Chinese attack. Taiwan’s intelligence agency said China used “diverse channels and tactics” to infiltrate the nation’s military, government agencies and pro-China organizations. The main targets were retired and active members of the military, persuaded by money, blackmail or pro-China ideology to steal
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
RSS