Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) yesterday called for improvements of facilities along popular bicycle routes nationwide to prepare for the Ministry of Transportation and Communications “year of bicycle tourism” campaign next year.
Su made the remarks during the weekly Cabinet meeting in Taipei, evaluating the expansion of the nation’s bicycle route network from 2002 to 2018, during which 7,500km of bicycle trails were built.
However, it is not the length of routes, but the quality of facilities that matters, Su said, adding that it is also important that public transportation systems allow passengers to carry bicycles on trains and buses.
Photo: CNA
Su also highlighted public bicycle services, such as YouBike, that allow people to rent bicycles and return them at another location, saying that the services should expand.
The central role of bicycles during the early stages of the nation’s economic development are ingrained in the nation’s collective memory, including his own, Su said.
As a lifelong bicycle enthusiast, he finished his first round-island trip on a borrowed bicycle short after graduating from university, he said.
During his first term as premier from 2006 to 2007, he had made May 5 the nation’s Bicycle Day, leading the UN by more than a decade in proclaiming a day dedicated to cycling, Su said.
In September last year, he introduced a NT$1.6 billion (US$54.2 million at the current exchange rates) project to improve bicycle trails nationwide over the course of four years, he said.
However, further improvement is necessary to attract foreign visitors after the COVID-19 pandemic by creating a solid “bicycle network,” he said.
Bicycle trails and policies are governed by different agencies, with the round-nation trail managed by the Ministry of Transportation and Communications, the promotion of leisure activities and tourism managed by the Sports Administration and the Environmental Protection Administration, while the planning of urban bicycle routes is overseen by the Construction and Planning Agency, the premier said.
All agencies should coordinate their efforts and work with local governments to improve public health and local economies, and boost tourism, he added.
Su said that he envisions Taiwan becoming “a kingdom of bicycle tourism,” with international cycling events and opportunities for bicycle tourists to explore the nation.
He would try to find the time soon to go cycling to inspect the state of the nation’s bicycle infrastructure soon, he added.
An essay competition jointly organized by a local writing society and a publisher affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) might have contravened the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said on Thursday. “In this case, the partner organization is clearly an agency under the CCP’s Fujian Provincial Committee,” MAC Deputy Minister and spokesperson Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) said at a news briefing in Taipei. “It also involves bringing Taiwanese students to China with all-expenses-paid arrangements to attend award ceremonies and camps,” Liang said. Those two “characteristics” are typically sufficient
A magnitude 5.9 earthquake that struck about 33km off the coast of Hualien City was the "main shock" in a series of quakes in the area, with aftershocks expected over the next three days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Prior to the magnitude 5.9 quake shaking most of Taiwan at 6:53pm yesterday, six other earthquakes stronger than a magnitude of 4, starting with a magnitude 5.5 quake at 6:09pm, occurred in the area. CWA Seismological Center Director Wu Chien-fu (吳健富) confirmed that the quakes were all part of the same series and that the magnitude 5.5 temblor was
The brilliant blue waters, thick foliage and bucolic atmosphere on this seemingly idyllic archipelago deep in the Pacific Ocean belie the key role it now plays in a titanic geopolitical struggle. Palau is again on the front line as China, and the US and its allies prepare their forces in an intensifying contest for control over the Asia-Pacific region. The democratic nation of just 17,000 people hosts US-controlled airstrips and soon-to-be-completed radar installations that the US military describes as “critical” to monitoring vast swathes of water and airspace. It is also a key piece of the second island chain, a string of
The Central Weather Administration has issued a heat alert for southeastern Taiwan, warning of temperatures as high as 36°C today, while alerting some coastal areas of strong winds later in the day. Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門) and Pingtung County’s Neipu Township (內埔) are under an orange heat alert, which warns of temperatures as high as 36°C for three consecutive days, the CWA said, citing southwest winds. The heat would also extend to Tainan’s Nansi (楠西) and Yujing (玉井) districts, as well as Pingtung’s Gaoshu (高樹), Yanpu (鹽埔) and Majia (瑪家) townships, it said, forecasting highs of up to 36°C in those areas
RSS