I walk all around Taipei City a lot. It’s one of my hobbies. I’ll go somewhere and walk around for a couple of hours day or night.
The last week or so I’ve been subconsciously feeling that something seemed to be different and then today realized that the streets seem to cleaner, shops seem to be more organized along their sidewalk, and that street side food stalls are cleaner and more organized. Today it was Daan road between Hsinyi and Zhongxiao and Tunghua Road that are definitely cleaner and more organized. Yesterday it was Daodaocheng and Dihua road. There was one shop who has lined up their random pots of plants into rows. Other shops have scrubbed the black gunk off the street in front. A street stall has cleaned the street in front almost spotless and moved the random junk to the back. Other places where scooters typically parked still have the scooters but the ground underneath has been cleaned and scraped.
Anyone else noticed anything like this? Almost seems like Taipei is losing its lackluster and cleaning itself up.
For walkers, it’s getting better with the wider sidewalks. The first dramatic unveilings of this scheme were parts of Xinsheng South Road and Xinyi Road; then Nanjing East Road. Fuxing South Road is getting ripped up–presumably it’s next.
Every person you see in Taipei on a youbike is one less person riding a motorcycle. This is unambiguously a plus–though as all of us know there’s still lots of room for improvement!
There’s a big difference from 5 years ago that’s for sure, especially
On the main thoroughfares. Taipei city has less stuff being sold under the qi Lou as well which makes it easier to walk around. A much improved city. Pity the improvements don’t stretch very far out into New Taipei City in general.
I know the Taipei mayor Ke P said a couple of months ago that he thought Taipei should be as pretty as Singapore, which I considered a direct insult to the people of Taipei but apparently no one else thought so.
IIRC, that was right after he suggested an all-volunteer police force and just before he proposed that everyone in Tapei wear only corduroy trousers so that with the static electricity generated, there would be no more need for power plants.
And yeah, a lot of times crossing that river into the County (I don’t do that Shinbei BS) can feel like jumping back in time 15 years.
everytime i walk around taipei it looks nice…because i live in banqiao.
although i can’t say i dislike it here. taipei feels a bit quiet at night time, here there is always people about, even at 2am in the morning. i guess i have gotten used to the lively atmosphere.
Haven’t noticed. If they actually build parking garages for all the scooters to park instead of relegating them to the sidewalk, that would be a major improvement and very noticeable.
[quote=“RickRooney”]everytime i walk around taipei it looks nice…because i live in Banqiao.
although i can’t say i dislike it here. taipei feels a bit quiet at night time, here there is always people about, even at 2am in the morning. i guess I have gotten used to the lively atmosphere.[/quote]
Yeah Taipei is very quiet at night especially places like Anhe lu are a ghost town. I’m really surprised when I leave Taipei in the evening sometimes and see all the people and activity in the burbs.
When Ma Ying-jeou was mayor, he instituted a policy to make sure that sidewalks would not be blocked by shop owners, so that people could walk continuously along them without obstruction. That helped a lot. Numerous beautification projects have been carried out over the years, with a major push taking place in the run-up to the Taipei International Flora Expo. Now the MRT construction within downtown Taipei is pretty much completed, and the roads above them have been widened and completed. Some decrepit old buildings have been torn down and replaced by parks and green spaces.
New Taipei City lags behind. But it’s huge, and mostly rural. Downtown Banqiao is sparkling and modern. Danshui is charming. Other urban areas of New Taipei City are somewhat rough and unkempt, and are reminiscent of what Taipei was like 20 years ago.
sparking and modern…for about 6 streets! and then its back to the urban maze. i’m not complaining but whenever i come back from holiday this place absolutely looks like crap. it takes a good week or so for my eyes to adjust. last time i went to hong kong it was pretty devastating.
not specifically about Taipei, but the train and bus station in luodong has improved greatly since i was last there (about 1.5 years ago). they expanded the street in front of train station and reorganized the bus service to be in the back of the train station. It’s much more organized, has a better waiting area, and ticket counters.
Before it was a couple of hard to find cramped ticket offices. I’m really impressed.
New Taipeit city is huge alright, but mostly rural? Not a term I would apply to it. New Taipei City has been massively badly run, not helped by smaller budgets per head and the way it is distributed oddly over a wide area.