Taiwan’s cities should be highly walkable. Millions of people live in close proximity to markets, eateries and clinics. But many of those who could walk prefer the comfort of their cars or the convenience of their scooters.
It’s true that the weather is often hot or wet, yet the risk of becoming a crime victim is low by global standards, even late at night. Another kind of danger deters some from venturing out on foot. In the first half of this year, 173 pedestrians were killed on local roads. Great Britain, which has 2.7 times as many people as Taiwan, recorded 385 pedestrian deaths in all of last year.
On Dec. 6 last year, a CNN report dubbed Taiwan’s streets “a living hell” for pedestrians. International coverage of a problem that citizens and foreign residents have acknowledged for decades, together with public protests on May 14 and Aug. 20, appears to have pushed the government to take action.
Photo: Steven Crook
PEDESTRIANS FIRST?
On Nov. 21, the Legislative Yuan passed an amendment to the Highway Act which aims to change the thinking behind road design, and put the interests of those who use their legs to get around above those of car and motorcycle-users. In certain parts of each city, such as near hospitals, the authorities will have to install accessible sidewalks, create low-traffic areas, or take other measures to create a pedestrian-friendly environment.
Cheng Tsu-jui (鄭祖睿), an assistant professor in NCKU’s Department of Transportation and Communication Management Science, says the amendment is encouraging, but he wonders how the new requirement will be assessed and enforced.
Photo: Steven Crook
In addition to reducing carbon emissions, getting people to make more journeys on foot, and fewer by car or motorcycle, would bring about a slew of positive outcomes.
The population’s health would improve, and not just because people would get more exercise. Improved air quality should result in better respiratory health for residents. Lower noise levels would likely reduce stress. And, as an article in July on the Web site American City & County points out, “walkability helps mitigate the spread of contagious diseases, as people are outdoors rather than confined in crowded subway cars or buses.”
There’s some evidence that, as walkability increases, street crime declines. Walking also brings more opportunities for social interaction. Now that the number of single-person households in Taiwan exceeds the number of nuclear families — and, as CommonWealth magazine reported in 2021, the country ranks 37 out of 41 major economies in terms of social connectivity — this could make a real difference to people’s well-being.
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
A 2013 meta-analysis of North American case studies compiled for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation discovered “great enthusiasm for walkable shopping areas among retail experts, developers and many residents of urban and suburban areas. Businesses appear to do better in walkable commercial areas than in areas attracting mainly drive-to patronage. Evidence suggests that rents in walkable shopping areas can be 27 percent to 54 percent higher than in non-walkable areas.”
The paper’s author stressed that mass transit is “an important component of the best walkable retail areas.” It’s hard to imagine how, without Ximen Metro Station, Taipei’s Ximending pedestrian zone would have prospered as much as it has over the past two decades.
Taiwan’s built environment does walkers no favors. Where sidewalks do exist, they’re often modified for the convenience of property owners. To protect a house against flooding, one stretch might be 40cm higher than the adjacent stretch. Cinder blocks positioned to block motorcycles are a common sight. For the weaker half of the population, such obstacles are insurmountable.
Photo: Hua Meng-ching, Taipei Times
One politician who risked upsetting voters when pushing for increased walkability is Lin Chih-chien (林智堅), mayor of Hsinchu City from 2014 to last year. During his second term in office, he embarked on a major effort to even out sidewalks and keep pedestrian pathways clear on 18 downtown roads.
A Chinese-language BBS discussion, kicking off on April 10, 2021 under the question “Why do Taiwanese people hate walking so much?” generated several interesting comments.
In addition to air-quality complaints, several posters said that the illegal parking of motorcycles on footpaths and the selfish way in which many businesses annex sidewalk space make getting around on foot difficult. The netizen who asked “Are there sidewalks I can walk on outside of Taipei?” was told that there are — but in the south of the country they’re often used by scooters taking shortcuts.
Photo: Steven Crook
One commenter blamed Taiwan’s embrace of American pro-car mindsets, saying it’s given the island broad roads “with no space for sidewalks and street trees, and a lack of suitable spots for marked crosswalks.” Another attributed the cities’ poor walkability to the fact that “the people at the top” always get around by car.
OBESITY
More than one participant linked the low incidence of obesity in Japan to the fact that many Japanese regularly walk significant distances. According to OECD statistics, the 2017 obesity rate in Japan was 3.7 percent, compared to 38.2 percent in the US. A paper shared on the Ministry of Health and Welfare’s Web site states that, by 2017, the obesity prevalence in Taiwanese men had reached 24.9 percent. For women, it was 20.4 percent.
Photo: Steven Crook
On Nov. 2, Radio Taiwan International reported that, among Taiwan’s special municipalities, the highest percentage of overweight or obese people can be found in Tainan, a city with few sidewalks, infrequent buses, no metro and several months of scorching weather each year. But, as was pointed out in the BBS chat, those who use heat as an excuse to avoid walking during the warmer months hardly ever get from A to B on foot, even when temperatures are perfectly amenable.
Those who say “it’s just too hot, and there’s nothing anyone can do about that,” are wrong. As explained in a previous column (Taipei Times, “Turning down Taiwan’s heat,” Dec. 14, 2022), several strategies have been proven to bring down temperatures in urban areas.
When it comes to reducing car and motorcycle usage, sticks may be more effective than carrots.
Photo: Steven Crook
If driving or riding in cities becomes less convenient and more expensive, the proportion of people who hop on buses and then walk should increase. Tainan has taken a step in this direction. Scooter riders now have to pay for parking if they want to leave their two-wheeler near the railway station or at some other locations in the heart of the city. But with the fee set at just NT$20 per day, it’s unlikely to bring about a significant shift in transportation behavior.
Progressive parking fees, like those soon taking effect in Paris, may well be appropriate for Taiwan. To reduce urban air pollution and enhance road safety, the French capital will soon be charging vehicles that are physically large, or which burn gasoline or diesel, more than small cars and electric vehicles.
A more radical approach would be to narrow certain roads and make them one-way only. In addition to opening up space for broad sidewalks and street trees, this would force cars to go the long round. There’s a risk, of course, that motorists would simply accept longer driving times and burn more fossil fuel, rather than walk a bit.
Asked if he thinks that driving cars and riding motorcycles should be made less convenient in city centers, NCKU’s Cheng says: “We should let each road-user understand the role they should play and their responsibility to pay to make cities walkable. Parking management through fees, limiting the number of slots, and strict enforcement is definitely the most effective — yet also the most politically suicidal — strategy to make cities walkable by allocating more public space for walking.”
Cheng supports measures that would make walking more competitive timewise, such as reducing how long those on foot need to wait for traffic lights to change so they can cross the road. “Pedestrians usually have little patience when waiting for a light to change,” he points out. What’s more, he explains, in urban areas there’s evidence that longer traffic-light cycles encourage drivers to speed so as to beat the red light.
Cheng sees cause for optimism in survey results published in 2021 by the Ministry of Transportation and Communications’ Institute of Transportation. Scooter-riding respondents indicated they could, on average, tolerate a 9.4-minute walk after parking, equivalent to about 800 meters.
“This shows that people may be more willing to walk than they think they are, and there’s a potential for promoting walking in neighborhoods. However, it’d require both actual and perceived safety, such as segregated and physical pavements, safe and accessible road design, and adequate lighting. Tree canopy, one of the most vital urban green infrastructure components, would improve the comfort for pedestrians of all ages and mobility conditions.”
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