Here in Xindian every single bus stop near my house is infront of a bank or a breakfast store. So during rush hour these idiots park their cars right on the bus stop and go about their business. The one I use is infront of a breakfast store so every morning there is atleast one car and 3+ scooters parked there. On good days people buy their items and leave, on bad days they actually sit down and take their time eating their breakfast in the store while their vehicles block the bus stop.
I was down in front of SOGO near Daan yesterday and saw a Benz pull in and park illegally. The driver ran into one of the businesses, a Spa I think. He hadn’t been inside for a minute when three tow trucks and one of Taipei’s finest arrived. The Benz was attached and being towed in less than a minute. They dont fool around downtown. I had to wait and watch for about another two minutes. The driver came out looked up and down the street, scratched his head a couple times, got the phone number off the blue sign right in front of where he had parked and went back inside. Within another minute their were two other drivers that also parked illegally in the same zone. Good city revenue.
They are also quite illegal. In order to save time, they often take a car without getting the required photo evidence - this can be the difference between losing a bit of revenue and dealing with an unhappy customer or getting the car towed.
How do I know this?
Well, this morning I watched in complete amusement when two tow trucks arrived on an empty stretch of road painted with a red line. The first one set down the car and drove a few feet further down the road while the police officer took out a camera and snapped the offending car parked on the red line. Of course, this wasn’t the original red line - this was just a random red line somewhere in Taipei.
The other tow truck followed. After they had got the picture evidence required they promptly towed the cars to the impound.
Little sods.
I have watched them do this before on several occasions so if you do happen to park your car or bike illegally, remember where you parked it and compare it to your photo 
Well, I am not too surprised. Somebody made a blunder on what was maybe - maybe - maybe, a legal tow and had to correct the blunder. Do cops cover their mistakes? Wouldn’t you? Of course, it may have been an illegal tow but I’m guessing it was a “correction”.
In the instance I described, one cop arrived with the first two truck and one cop came in on a scooter. Both pulled cams faster than gunslingers at the OK corral and snapped as many pictures from all angles as time permitted. I would guess that each officer took at least 5 pictures. IT WAS FAST. One guy operating the lift on the truck, two guys handling the dollys and two cops snapping pics. They had the job done in a fraction of the time that I thought was possible. If you park illegally downtown - don’t blink. You’ll be wondering where your car went.
[quote=“Enigma”]If you park illegally downtown - don’t blink. You’ll be wondering where your car went.[/quote]Great start, but I wish this fervor would spread beyond Taipei downtown. I just got back from downtown Taichung and the number of double-parked selfish bastards was off the scale today. Fucking unbelieveable. 
Oh…I have no doubt it was a legal tow - however, as I have seen this on several occasions it seems to be common practice to rip the car away and then take pictures somewhere else afterwards.
If they can "plant’ a red line under a car, what stops them “planting” other things on people?
Evidence is evidence, but the correct evidence should be supplied, not corrected evidence.
Aside from this, I’m all for having cars towed away. I had one towed away from infront of my house the other night - a BMW which always parks in the scooter places. It’s amazing how simple things can produce such astonishing smiles. 
Please everyone. You all really have no idea what inconsiderate parking is 'till you live in Jiayi.
Double parking is very common. I often see people triple parked.
I lived in Taichung for a year and a half. That was pretty bad. I lived in Taipei for a few years. Better than Taichung but still bad. Jiayi is by far the worst place in Taiwan IMO.
Last night I was going to take my dog to the park. I got outside and what did I see? A little white Nissan March was parked right behind the row of motorcycles where mine was parked. I mean RIGHT behind.
What did I do you ask? I moved the motorcyle beside mine. Then I pulled my bike out (Now parallel to the car) and scraped by brake handle all along the side of the car. Huge scratch.
I hope that teaches 'em. But It won’t. This is how it will play out in that selfish persons mind
“GAN!! Look at this huge scratch on my car. If I saw that person doing that I would kill them”.
End of thought process
Sorry. Rant over.
[quote=“Lo Bo To”]Please everyone. You all really have no idea what inconsiderate parking is 'till you live in Jiayi.
Double parking is very common. I often see people triple parked.
I lived in Taichung for a year and a half. That was pretty bad. I lived in Taipei for a few years. Better than Taichung but still bad. Jiayi is by far the worst place in Taiwan IMO.
Last night I was going to take my dog to the park. I got outside and what did I see? A little white Nissan March was parked right behind the row of motorcycles where mine was parked. I mean RIGHT behind.
What did I do you ask? I moved the motorcyle beside mine. Then I pulled my bike out (Now parallel to the car) and scraped by brake handle all along the side of the car. Huge scratch.
I hope that teaches 'em. But It won’t. This is how it will play out in that selfish persons mind
“GAN!! Look at this huge scratch on my car. If I saw that person doing that I would kill them”.
End of thought process
Sorry. Rant over.[/quote]
Too true. It’s the same in Cin Shuei. The entrance to my apartment is up a small dead-ended lane. Often I come out to find a car or blue truck parked right in the middle of the lane, leaving no room to get by. Either that, or some dipshit parks his scooter behind mine, and then locks his freakin’ steering column.
And when Mr. Fuckhead finally shows up, he gives me one of these 
. Completely incapable of understanding why anyone would be upset.
I was waiting for the bus at a busy stop when someone pulled into the bus stop to drop someone off. Unfortunately for him, he then couldn’t get out again because there was a solid line of buses pulling up to the stop so that he was constantly blocked from leaving for a good five minutes. I hope the bus drivers were doing it intentionally, but it was amusing either way.
There’s some guy in my neighborhood that occasionaly visits and parks his truck exactly on my space.
I say it’s my space because I’m one of the last people to move in here and the residents told me that I should claim that space and not park in their spaces. So my scooter and motorbike are always parked in the same spot and anyone who lives here knows that. It’s a good system.
When mr truck parks there, I grab a bunch of traffic cones and put them all over his truck. It looks really funny and for the last couple of months he hasn’t parked there. I also park in front of some gangster’s house and he likes my FZR so it works out well for me. Always be nice to friendly gangsters who just want to say hello.
I live on a really nice street in Banchaio with wide sidewalks, trees, and enough parking for almost everyone. nobody ever double parks here and the ticket people patrole regularily. I hope I never leave…
[quote=“belgian pie”]This morning while I was in the shower I looke d out on to the street and saw this car parked … (I have a shower with a view) naturally parked wrong although there was place in front and after … so why are they doing it? Are they just relentless, stupid, ignorant or plain naive, maybe they just don’t give a shit …
It’s clearly marked as a bus stop, isn’t it?[/quote]
I dont know if you drive, if you do then you would relaize how hard to find a proper place to park, that is how it goes in Taipei city. For other counties and ciites, it could be more unorganized.
Sometimes I think they should press the law, that unless you have your own parking space, then you have right to buy cars / moto bikes. That’s how they did in Singapore.
With so many driving population in Taipei, you’d be surprised that parking space were so limited.
[quote=“SDPhatcat”]I don’t know if you drive, if you do then you would relaize how hard to find a proper place to park, that is how it goes in Taipei city.[/quote]That makes some difference, but not much. I can usually spot a legal or at least less disruptive parking place not more than 50m from where all the double-parkers are congregating. Random parking good, walking bad. 
We can blame the drivers for being assholes and the cops for not doing their jobs all we like. The real fault however is at the planning level. Businesses that are going to generate a lot of parking requirements should be forced to plan for it before being granted business licenses. It’s as simple as that. Business owners should not be allowed to dump their parking needs on their neighbors.
[quote=“Dangermouse”]Oh…I have no doubt it was a legal tow - however, as I have seen this on several occasions it seems to be common practice to rip the car away and then take pictures somewhere else afterwards.
If they can "plant’ a red line under a car, what stops them “planting” other things on people?
Evidence is evidence, but the correct evidence should be supplied, not corrected evidence.[/quote]
[quote=“redwagon”][quote=“SDPhatcat”]I don’t know if you drive, if you do then you would relaize how hard to find a proper place to park, that is how it goes in Taipei city.[/quote]That makes some difference, but not much. I can usually spot a legal or at least less disruptive parking place not more than 50m from where all the double-parkers are congregating. Random parking good, walking bad.
We can blame the drivers for being assholes and the cops for not doing their jobs all we like. The real fault however is at the planning level. Businesses that are going to generate a lot of parking requirements should be forced to plan for it before being granted business licenses. It’s as simple as that. Business owners should not be allowed to dump their parking needs on their neighbors.[/quote]
They just start to do things called urban planning, or considered to. I guess this scenerio would keep taking places for next 5 years.
[quote=“SDPhatcat”]
They just start to do things called urban planning, or considered to. I guess this scenerio would keep taking places for next 5 years.[/quote]The horse is long gone I’m afraid. Who is going to tell all those people with businesses in residential zones that they have to move or suddenly aquire sufficient parking for their customers? Political suicide.
Here’s another idea that is about 20 years too late for adoption; Tokyo’s rules that all car purchasers must prove they have their parking space before they can sign the sales contract. Oh well, too late for that now.
Oh, I don’t know. All we need are a few good earthquakes and then the government could implement the city plans.
[quote=“SDPhatcat”][quote=“belgian pie”]This morning while I was in the shower I looke d out on to the street and saw this car parked … (I have a shower with a view) naturally parked wrong although there was place in front and after … so why are they doing it? Are they just relentless, stupid, ignorant or plain naive, maybe they just don’t give a shit …
It’s clearly marked as a bus stop, isn’t it?[/quote]
I don’t know if you drive, if you do then you would relaize how hard to find a proper place to park, that is how it goes in Taipei city. For other counties and ciites, it could be more unorganized.
Sometimes I think they should press the law, that unless you have your own parking space, then you have right to buy cars / moto bikes. That’s how they did in Singapore.
With so many driving population in Taipei, you’d be surprised that parking space were so limited.[/quote]
The first thing that crossed my mind when I saw the photo was, what time of morning was it taken. If it was before 8am, it’s pretty accepted practice since that’s when the tow trucks hit the road, at least in Taipei. The spot behind was probably occupied when this guy made his decision to park in the bus zone. Not making excuses, just a possible scenario. Redwagon is right, it is usually pretty easy to find a less disruptive, if not legal, spot to park your car if you’re willing to walk a bit.
around 9.15 AM and yes he could have walked like 3 meters if he had parked a little more backward.
It’s called Expensive Car Syndrome, folks.
Belgian Pie, do you always take your camera into the shower with you?
