Bus-stop smoking ban

Starting on March 1, tobacco smoking will be prohibited at 1,150 shelters at 932 bus stops in Taipei, Taiwan, according to a story in The Taipei Times quoting the Taipei Department of Health.

From that date. those who smoked at these bus stops would face fines of between NT$1,200 and NT$10,000, the department said.

And those who throw cigarette butts on the ground will face fines of NT$1,200 for a first offense, NT$3,600 for a second and up to NT$5,000 for a third.

The Taipei Department of Health’s secretary-general Lee Pi-hui said that his department had been advising the public of the new tobacco-smoking policy since the start of the year, using ‘various channels’.

And the Taipei Public Transportation Office director Chang Hua-chen said his office had posted no smoking signs on bus shelters while bus companies had promoted the policy in their vehicles.

The transportation office plans to send inspectors to check bus shelters once the ban takes effect, Chang said.

The department of health said that it had conducted surveys in 2014 and 2015 to test public opinion on non-smoking bus shelters and the results had showed that 94 percent and 95 percent of respondents supported the restriction.

It said it had received petitions from people demanding a smoking ban at all bus shelters.