tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19235026.post7936746650653594088..comments2024-03-28T15:13:39.860+08:00Comments on Hanjié's Blog: ChiMei Museum and THSRUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19235026.post-21241840928442826722007-02-06T09:53:00.000+08:002007-02-06T09:53:00.000+08:00dccmThe passenger drop off area is called 'kiss an...dccmThe passenger drop off area is called 'kiss and ride', a nice way to encourage people to use mass transit.<br /><br /><br />CUTE yes,<br /><br />See REUTERS STORY TODAY:<br /><br />“Kiss and ride” signs stump<br />Taiwan rail passengers<br /><br />by Ralph Jennings, Reuters, TAIPEI<br /><br />TAIPEI,<br />Feb 5. 2007<br /><br />English-language “kiss and ride” signs at passengerdrop-off areas along Taiwan’s new high-speed rail line are confusing passengers in a society where sendoffs are normally not intimate.<br /><br />White-on-blue signs at the seven stations along the 345-kilometre (214-mile) Taiwan high speed railway use the colloquialism seen at some U.S. stations and airports which refers to an area where drivers can drop off their passengers, usually a spouse, in the morning and pick them up in the evening, often with an embrace.<br /><br />The Chinese-language version does not use the word “kiss”.<br /><br />“The English words ‘kiss and ride’ are a mystery to local people,” said an English teacher in the Chiayi, which is on the train’s route. “It implies that this is a place to kiss and then ride somewhere, but public kissing at train stations in Taiwan is a rarity.”<br /><br />A Taipei-based blog, http://blog.taiwan-guide.org, run by an English teacher from Australia, has generated comments that question as well as encourage the signs.<br /><br />“I rather like ‘kiss and ride’,” one commentator said. “It’s cute. It wouldn’t hurt Taiwanese people to show a little affection once in a while.”<br /><br />The signs were posted about two years ago, a year after railway planners learned that “kiss and ride” was used in Western countries, said a spokesman for the railway line operator, Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp.<br /><br />High-speed rail authorities say they do not see a problem with the signs. A few foreigners have complained at one station in Taipei County, a spokeswoman said.<br /><br />The trains were launched on January 5. Taiwan’s high-speed rail is the world’s fastest track-based system along with Shinkansen lines in Japan.DANIELBLOOMhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05130493903696077379noreply@blogger.com