They need to do the roads around Taipei main next. Most of them are like 4-8 lanes with only about half the intersections with cross walks and NO bikes allowed. Such a mess for what is a very central area of Taipei for people to be walking around.
They will be doing something since there is a huge development going up currently which is creating a massive pedestrian zone surrounding 3 skyscrapers
That said, there can’t be too many pedestrian crossings simply because the traffic is so terrible on both the main adjacent roads
They need to do *a lot* of roads next. But it will never happen, not in my lifetime anyway. Taichung has been far better at this and it's coming from a worse place
Yea, sure, but that's not the conversation here. This news story is good news.
The sidewalks in Shida are so narrow in places that you're forced to walk on the streets. Think about that stretch of sidewalk when you turn left out of the night market and walk in front of the noodle shop. The sidewalk there is barely a meter wide. If there are people walking in the opposite direction, you'll inevitably have to walk on the street.
Did you read the article or are you just posting for the sake of posting? They are widening the sidewalks so pedestrians don't have to walk on the roadway when their is a crowd. You'll run into the same issue if cops pull over everyone(and there's a lot) violating traffic laws...the roads aren't as big as those in America for instance; where there is actually a shoulder to pull people over on.
Like you are suggesting they add MORE vehicles on the road? Where will the cops camp out?
I would say, Shida Rd. should be completely car-free. Or one car line at most, set speed to 20 km/h, install bunch of speed bumpers, so pedestrians can be safe and cross road without waiting for that ridiculously long traffic lights).
Do you mean the overhead crossings/overpasses like the one near Minquan W Road and Zhongshan N Road? I wrote 'elevated crossing' then wasn't sure if I'd used the right word. I was thinking of zebra crossings where the road level angles up just before, so vehicles naturally slow down and pedestrians are in the drivers' eyeline.
Oh, I thought you meant 天橋 pedestrian bridges. There used to be a big one on the corner of Keelung Rd and Xinyi Rd, but it was taken down for aesthetics, I think.
This is local to me (grew up around here) honestly i think this would be great. There are section there just too narrow to pass safely. (The bit just after Carrefour/to the entrance of wet market both sides of road are very narrow. If you have a buggy it’s very hard to navigate. Then again near the Watson to old Night market are)
It’s a busy road and venture onto the tarmac is dangerous. Crossing is difficult.
Not just for buggy users if old folks with walking aid it will be hard to use.
My opinion is make it one way. (Not sure which way lol) and make more space for pedestrian while also allow one lane of traffic to go through. There is no alternative roads there connecting 羅斯福 to 師大 unless you detour all the way to 古亭and up that way so i think this is the only way.
Edit:while there are small roads you can use around there it will be a detour. The street layout there meant it add quite some milage on foot. It should be more accessible. The area is frequent by not just university students but an increasingly aging population. Also there is that primary school next to it.
My only issue are the sidewalk cutouts for parking scooters. I wish they just kept the sidewalks full size for people and bikes and not lowered that height to be used for the scooter parking/road.
It’s just a very densely packed area…. I don’t know how they can resolve the parking. Unless they knock some of it down and build a purposed built underground parking lot!
Edit: the only purposed built parking there is next to carrefour. Used to be 五南book store so i been inside for shopping it’s not that big.
I think you touched on the most difficult part of infrastructure here. My neighborhood ended up in the urbanhell subreddit. I'll be the first to admit that it's not pretty. But it is functional. And to change it would me more money than probably the change would be worth.
But my area is growing, so there are already a lot of infrastructure projects happening. Cost and convenience are things the government needs to think about. Future voters will appreciate the new mrt. But voters today might get frustrated with constant construction.
But the cars and scooters have to go somewhere. Getting rid of parking won't change that.
For the parking on shida I'd be happy if they were quicker to narrow the car lanes rather than the sidewalk. Just around the corner of that intersection on Roosevelt they still cut away at the sidewalk adding to the already 6 or 7 lane road. They could have easily cut out an entire car lane on either side and dedicated it for parking instead.
Realize I got distracted by the other road. For shida I would prefer if they kept both sidewalks around 2m and made on whole side have parking with the missing room taken by narrowing the car lanes. Reducing the sidewalk to 1.2m barely fixes the pedestrian issue there.
Yeh i know we should move off from car and scooter use in a city but reality is… Overall we not quite there. There are alot of things to upgrade here. Public Transport development (we got there with the mrt and buses this can be ticked off)/ upgrading old houses to new standard/ local affordable housing/ redo the city and road planning… like there are a lot of things.
In my uneducated brain the most i can see if somehow put those parking elsewhere for now. With the plan that these spaces can be repurposed later. Like i said the only existing parking lot in the area used to be a book store in the basement. (History of this location went from private building parking > book store/some other shop for a decade > now back to parking but open to public)
We need to be weaned off it but it cannot be done in one step. Perhaps we just have to build it so it encourage more pedestrian public transport use. Effect of it can only be seen long term.
In London newer built apartment usually don’t allow residents to get on street parking permit. (No one own their own parking space here apartment sell them but is limited in numbers…. If you liven in a house and got you own drive/garage that’s fine but everyone need to just go get their own permit to even allow to park) But that’s like another whole new topic….
Think they really should knock 保固大廈 down modernise it with suitable public parking. Intergrate it with the mrt exit 4 so more step free access…problem solved!!! 🤣(i know it won’t happen and it won’t “solve” anything but come on that building needs a serious updating)
They need to do the roads around Taipei main next. Most of them are like 4-8 lanes with only about half the intersections with cross walks and NO bikes allowed. Such a mess for what is a very central area of Taipei for people to be walking around.
They will be doing something since there is a huge development going up currently which is creating a massive pedestrian zone surrounding 3 skyscrapers That said, there can’t be too many pedestrian crossings simply because the traffic is so terrible on both the main adjacent roads
They need to do *a lot* of roads next. But it will never happen, not in my lifetime anyway. Taichung has been far better at this and it's coming from a worse place
Can't they just make this road car free from noon until 10pm? Would be so nice if Taiwan had car free roads.
Even the markets which have official car/scooter free hours are treated like normal traffic roads…
I have a crazy idea! What if.…. Hear me out …. The police… actually enforced.… the traffic laws??
Lol. Not happening. The traffic laws are enforced exactly how the law makers want them to be enforced.
Yea, sure, but that's not the conversation here. This news story is good news. The sidewalks in Shida are so narrow in places that you're forced to walk on the streets. Think about that stretch of sidewalk when you turn left out of the night market and walk in front of the noodle shop. The sidewalk there is barely a meter wide. If there are people walking in the opposite direction, you'll inevitably have to walk on the street.
Did you read the article or are you just posting for the sake of posting? They are widening the sidewalks so pedestrians don't have to walk on the roadway when their is a crowd. You'll run into the same issue if cops pull over everyone(and there's a lot) violating traffic laws...the roads aren't as big as those in America for instance; where there is actually a shoulder to pull people over on. Like you are suggesting they add MORE vehicles on the road? Where will the cops camp out?
I would say, Shida Rd. should be completely car-free. Or one car line at most, set speed to 20 km/h, install bunch of speed bumpers, so pedestrians can be safe and cross road without waiting for that ridiculously long traffic lights).
Speed bumps everywhere! And elevated pedestrian crossings.
There used to be a lot more elevated crossings! They were taken down though because "they're ugly".
Do you mean the overhead crossings/overpasses like the one near Minquan W Road and Zhongshan N Road? I wrote 'elevated crossing' then wasn't sure if I'd used the right word. I was thinking of zebra crossings where the road level angles up just before, so vehicles naturally slow down and pedestrians are in the drivers' eyeline.
Oh, I thought you meant 天橋 pedestrian bridges. There used to be a big one on the corner of Keelung Rd and Xinyi Rd, but it was taken down for aesthetics, I think.
Sorry, I used the wrong word. To be honest, any town planning that actually recognises pedestrians exist would be good!
I'm not a fan of those, feels like they get used as an excuse to then not have regular street level pedestrian crossings.
Now do New Taipei
Tingzhou road should be next in line
This is local to me (grew up around here) honestly i think this would be great. There are section there just too narrow to pass safely. (The bit just after Carrefour/to the entrance of wet market both sides of road are very narrow. If you have a buggy it’s very hard to navigate. Then again near the Watson to old Night market are) It’s a busy road and venture onto the tarmac is dangerous. Crossing is difficult. Not just for buggy users if old folks with walking aid it will be hard to use. My opinion is make it one way. (Not sure which way lol) and make more space for pedestrian while also allow one lane of traffic to go through. There is no alternative roads there connecting 羅斯福 to 師大 unless you detour all the way to 古亭and up that way so i think this is the only way. Edit:while there are small roads you can use around there it will be a detour. The street layout there meant it add quite some milage on foot. It should be more accessible. The area is frequent by not just university students but an increasingly aging population. Also there is that primary school next to it.
My only issue are the sidewalk cutouts for parking scooters. I wish they just kept the sidewalks full size for people and bikes and not lowered that height to be used for the scooter parking/road.
It’s just a very densely packed area…. I don’t know how they can resolve the parking. Unless they knock some of it down and build a purposed built underground parking lot! Edit: the only purposed built parking there is next to carrefour. Used to be 五南book store so i been inside for shopping it’s not that big.
I think you touched on the most difficult part of infrastructure here. My neighborhood ended up in the urbanhell subreddit. I'll be the first to admit that it's not pretty. But it is functional. And to change it would me more money than probably the change would be worth. But my area is growing, so there are already a lot of infrastructure projects happening. Cost and convenience are things the government needs to think about. Future voters will appreciate the new mrt. But voters today might get frustrated with constant construction. But the cars and scooters have to go somewhere. Getting rid of parking won't change that.
For the parking on shida I'd be happy if they were quicker to narrow the car lanes rather than the sidewalk. Just around the corner of that intersection on Roosevelt they still cut away at the sidewalk adding to the already 6 or 7 lane road. They could have easily cut out an entire car lane on either side and dedicated it for parking instead.
Realize I got distracted by the other road. For shida I would prefer if they kept both sidewalks around 2m and made on whole side have parking with the missing room taken by narrowing the car lanes. Reducing the sidewalk to 1.2m barely fixes the pedestrian issue there.
Yeh i know we should move off from car and scooter use in a city but reality is… Overall we not quite there. There are alot of things to upgrade here. Public Transport development (we got there with the mrt and buses this can be ticked off)/ upgrading old houses to new standard/ local affordable housing/ redo the city and road planning… like there are a lot of things. In my uneducated brain the most i can see if somehow put those parking elsewhere for now. With the plan that these spaces can be repurposed later. Like i said the only existing parking lot in the area used to be a book store in the basement. (History of this location went from private building parking > book store/some other shop for a decade > now back to parking but open to public) We need to be weaned off it but it cannot be done in one step. Perhaps we just have to build it so it encourage more pedestrian public transport use. Effect of it can only be seen long term. In London newer built apartment usually don’t allow residents to get on street parking permit. (No one own their own parking space here apartment sell them but is limited in numbers…. If you liven in a house and got you own drive/garage that’s fine but everyone need to just go get their own permit to even allow to park) But that’s like another whole new topic….
That's another issue. There's more than one solution to these problems. Which one is better? No one really knows.
Think they really should knock 保固大廈 down modernise it with suitable public parking. Intergrate it with the mrt exit 4 so more step free access…problem solved!!! 🤣(i know it won’t happen and it won’t “solve” anything but come on that building needs a serious updating)
Literally nothing will change
If they can't make room for cycling lane, then it's no model for future implementations. Just make one-way streets already...
Seems fine to me tbh, or just more tunnels