Illegal Bicycle Parking Near MRT Stations

Usually the biggest annoyance for pedestrians in Taiwan is scooters parked on sidewalks, but according to the Liberty Times bicycles are also becoming an issue.  While remembering to take any Taiwanese newspaper's claims with a grain of salt, this reflects a pattern in Taipei City's promotion of cycling, where cyclists are permitted to take space from pedestrians but rarely from cars and scooters (Xinyi Rd. is an exception to this, with the removal of scooter parking providing space for cycling).  This discourages walking, the most environmentally friendly form of transport (as well as the safest and healthiest), while leaving drivers with a disproportionate amount of street space.  Of course, Taipei's government can't wholly be held responsible for illegal bicycle parking, but the police admission to only targeting illegally parked cyclists near the Gongguan and Technology Building MRT stations shows some culpability.  Cycling should definitely be encouraged, but more cycling will require taking space from other modes of transportation- and that mode should be automobiles, not pedestrians.

Taichung Passes Limited Ban on Fuel-Burning Scooters

Taichung is probably the most difficult Taiwanese city to get around without a motor vehicle: it doesn't yet have any mass transit rail, its bus system is difficult to use, and sidewalks are often nonexistent even on busy streets.  So it's very surprising to see that Taichung, more or less out of the blue, has proposed banning its most popular form of transportation: gasoline-burning scooters- albeit only in certain to be determined areas, and not until 2021.  Areas that might be considered are the Shuinan Trade Zone and the city's pedestrian zones (they aren't banned in pedestrian zones already??).  The measure is part of a law to lower Taichung's carbon emissions, and originally was only going to apply to scooters with two-stroke engines before it was expanded.  The city also plans on offering subsidies to encourage people to switch to electric scooters.
Needless to say, the new law caused a wave of online anger from scooter drivers who feel that the Taichung City Government is "oppressing" them.  While I believe the complaints are overblown and think lowering scooter usage is a good thing, I also think a ban is a bad way to achieve this goal, given the backlash it caused.  Perhaps a carbon tax or fuel tax that applied to cars as well as scooters would attract less opposition and be easier to defend.  Also, lack of public consultation before this law was passed helped ensure it would meet opposition from people who felt their interests were not being taken into account at all.
Hopefully the furor will calm down, the ban will be enacted and no one will care much because Taichung will have a much better mass transit system by then, and regardless the ban will only effect a small area.  By bungling this, however, Jason Hu has made it much more likely that Taichung's next mayor will overturn it and do little to make Taichung hospitable for walking and mass transit.