or just to make it a holiday destination at all?
My suggestion for them is A) get rid of the motor-scooters, B) build proper pavements on the roadside.
What do you think? I'm really not trying to apply North American solutions. I don't know enough about N. America to be able to judge. If I said public transport is a must, I am not trying to impose any local solution on anyone, but it's only green to do so. TPE probably has Taiwan's best public transport network, but people still ride scooters.
So many streets in Taiwan have no pavements on the roadside. Instead, quite often it's the forecourt-type area between the actual road and the shop front, which is intended for pedestrains, but it's unusable because of the parked scooters so pedestrians always end up walking on the actual road. I find that uncivilised and I think they can easily improve that just to make it safter for everyone.
I suppose I'd rewrite the question to how to make it a better place for everybody instead of a better holiday destination. The reason I asked this question is simply because not just tourists, but most people find it a battle to cross any road in Taiwan.............. I am surprised by earlier answers to this question.
First of all, 'pavement' is British English for 'sidewalk (Am. Eng.), so the US slant is incorrectly assumed.
Secondly, I understand the question to refer to the safety issues of life/getting about in Taiwan. Personally, I found the place messy, dirty and dangerous. That's not to say that there are no positives about visiting Taiwan, but in the terms of the question it is not an attractive tourist destination.
Thirdly, why do Americans presume any English language questions are posed by other Americans? Taiwan already IS a vacation destination. The tourist industry is very big--lots of holiday hotels and resorts. Taipei, on the other hand, is more of a work and business destination. Nobody goes there for tourism.
Hualien (where I live) is very big for tourism. The joint jumps at Lunar New Year. Our airport has direct flights to Japan. There is a local feeling against not wanting to build any more tourism infrastructure--nobody wants a Waikiki or a Cancun around here.
Scooters, by the way, are a very efficient means of urban transportation. They are called scooters because they scoot. I am glad there are a lot of them around. There is no public transportation in Hualien (only 175,000 people in the place), and the traffic would be hopeless if everyone drove a car.
My bike has electronic fuel injection, and it's just a 125 cc. It pollutes a lot less than a car, and it's very quiet unless I crank it.
It's unwise to try to apply North American solutions elsewhere in the world.
I don't know what you mean by "proper pavements". Do you mean "paved shoulder"? I for one would be all for that--the motor scooter lane would be renamed 'general purpose activity lane". It's just one more hazard of which I need to be aware. I never understood people who say to change a city for themselves, the tourist. If you want Taiwan to be more like USA then visit a USA city.
I live in NYC and NYC is no longer what it was. You might as visit Disney World instead of NYC now. I like the fact that it is safer and cleaner. But don't visit NYC and think that you visited THE cultural greatness that once was this NYC. All the nice small mom and pop shops have all close for the corporate stores.
Last month I visited L.A. and parts of it looks confusingly like parts of Park ave. and Fifth ave. of NYC. I might was well have stayed home.
If you want to visit Taiwan, Hong Kong or any other cities, take in all that is the city (the good, the bad and the ugly).
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That is not to say that city should not change. But not for the sake of tourist. Taiwan is a great destination IF YOU WANT SOMETHING DIFFERENT than the great suburban sprawl of Dennys, DQ and gas stations of N. America. Of course it is does still have McD's and 7-11's for tourists (moreso the locals) convienience. You wont starve if you cant bring yourself to eat local food.
Moter scooters actually are the best thing about this place. Its generally untrained car drivers without any open space who dont obey right of way laws that make life miserable
-more tower parkades near busy destination areas. Ideally every street under the 7-11 or over the 7-11 should probably have a parkade for cars. That probably wont be happening any time soon. Many of the problems are caused by cars searching aimlessly for non-existent parking spots.
-- Once more scooters get electric powered motors and there is infrastructure in place for recharging the millions of scooters while they park, (ideally solar powered with ocean power helping) this place could be pretty good! That, unfortunately is a long way aways. So we are stuck with minimally polluting scooters- which waste far less gas than a massive car.
I like the idea about sidewalks. Its happening, slowly, in the areas where the mayors have awoken to the idea that making voters happy instead of crushing them like flies has caught on.
-More trees in the cities. Give the scooters some shade to escape the sun, and road rage/ suicidal red light running to avoid stopping in direct sunlight and cooking may be reduced. it also has been proven to relax people to see greenery. Even animals in cages their whole lives seem to be able to relax better with some greenery near by. People here are not afraid of trees.
-If you are a weirdo politician who is scared of the bugs near trees, plant fragrant trees that repel undesirable bugs (ie mosquitos).
if you are a weirdo businessman who doesnt want 'trees blocking your signs'- learn how to make sidewalk signs and pay someone to do sidewalk chalk art promoting your store. Grow up and realize the rest of society doesnt care about your damn signs -its just the service. People like trees, and are happier to spend more time (AND MONEY) near them particularily in sunlight. If your business is near a good tree- USE it instead of hacking it. Your idiotic self centered greed probably is costing you money. Think of all those big moneymaking businesses that are beside BIG trees! Theres TONS!... I bet....
-More large wide parks near urban areas- see the below suggestion about reclaiming former industrial areas.
Other good ideas is for them to continue building more rail-transport/ mass transport to make it competitive with Japans transport system. For a tourist Japan is a dream! Taiwan can definetly build up a great train system now they have the speed train line down the west side. The east side has a beautiful coastal railway as well.
Keep playing up taiwans historic locations for what it was like before CKS showed up with his legions and paved the island,
-reclaim/clean up industrial areas that are no longer in use by using hardy plants to absorb the toxins and refilling certain unused mine shafts with these plants after they have done their jobs. Once the shafts are full, sealing them so the toxins are contained relatively safely.
-CLEAN UP THE BEACHES and start making learning how to swim a priority for all Taiwanese children- get people appreciating the amazing coastal resources all around this island. The dragons teeth and the garbage and the lack of quality facilities along most of the (potentially) beautiful sprawling beach areas is tragic.
-LIGHT pollution controls in the cities. Change the lighting systems to reduce waste light reflecting into the skies. Use dimmer, energy reducing LCD lights in street lights. Many people who grew up in cities here have never seen stars at night. The light pollution has denied them this. It is tragic. This is one of the things I tend to miss the most living here.
-Signage controls. forcing businesses to place their signs in established limits. Say no more than 60 CM from the edge of your building for the furthest edge of the sign. If the signs exceed said limit fines and seizure should become standard.
Welders and cutters would have a scrap metal bonanza! :) :)
Its a one time cost for the businesses and can be done simply with plenty of warning time. This can make for a more attractive sightline along streets, as well as allow for more visibility for traffic control signs and lights. Too much neon = excuse to not follow laws.
This law probably could include banning using 3/4 naked women to sell carcinogens. It hurts for me to say that, but it probably would help cut fatalities. Damnit. I will miss you bin lan girls. but thats why Maxim exists.
-legalise and permit more strip bars? to keep the bin lan girls employed?? Near a parkade for the taxi drivers and blue truck drivers to park of course. ? ? ? ? Maybe I should scratch that one. sigh....
-WAIT! Have the bin lan girls start up ice cream//beer tents by the beaches! you get shade/ ocean sounds/ ice cream AND beer girls in bikinis! I am PURE GENIUS! It solves ALL the problems! Who can't love that?!?!? (of course the beaches still need to get the garbage cleaned up first... sigh.) Think of the EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES!!
--Ban ALL outdoor KTV. Dear, dear, Old people... -you cannot sing. We dont need to hear you howling Beatles tunes at full volume. Shut up and stay in your house with the doors shut if you want to KTV. Or go to one of the soundproof rooms available at Cashbox KTV's. When I am out in nature I dont want to hear your voice yowling through the trees. I am kind of a wind whispery kind of tourist. When someone breaks this law, dont even waste time fining them, just permit the police to seize the sound systems and smash them with hammers. All the world's tourists and sane locals nearby will thank you. Mainland China might even start trying to be friendly if they arnt getting all twitchy listening to Uncle Wong caterwaul across the straits and not being able to shut him up. No wonder they want to bomb this island.
--start learning how to play bongos, steel xylophones and guitars and erhus again instead of bad synthesizers and rap/metal ****. it sounded bad in English. It sounds bad in chinese too.
--start promoting full moon rave parties among the locals and tourists and ease up on the BS police enforcement of the drug laws. Start some more anti drug education and rehabilitation instead of wasting time on those who really dont care about their bodies anyways by shutting down everyone elses parties. The drug takers deserve to die their slow internal rot deaths. Organizers should perhaps get more serious about kicking the druggies out and not tolerate them either. Hire rugby teams for head cracking support. make the rave culture back to about the dance and the fun not the purchasing of illegal sh*t. Of course it is easy to wonder.. was rave ever about dance and love? Thats another question...
Wow I really appear to have way too much to say! LOL!
Sorry!
Taiwan's urban areas SHOULD be as beautiful as Honolulu. It isnt currently, and will have a difficult time getting to that state ever again, but it cant hurt to TRY. Start obeying traffic rules & traffic lights. It'll also help if they clean up their streets. Was there in Apr-May, and oh boy, the stanch from the gutter is still in my head... |
