Reporting a Car Parked on a Red Line in Tamsui via 1999

Next to the third-class historic site “Tamsui Fuyou Temple (Mazu Temple)” on Tamsui Old Street, there is an alley entrance where you can climb the steps into Tamsui’s oldest commercial center, “Chongjian Street.”

The New Taipei City Government once wanted to widen this old street, which drew protests from many Tamsui residents who love its original flavor, as well as from cultural and historical workers.

Where there is opposition, there is also support. Led by the Qingshui Yanshi Temple, several households in the alleys also hoped the road would be widened.

The former is rumored to want to enlarge the area and make it easier for worshippers of Qingshui Zushi to reach the temple; the latter say they want to make it easier for ladder trucks and fire engines to enter in the event of a fire—though one cannot help but suspect whether it is really for convenience or for property prices.

Even if I believe the local residents want the road widened for their own safety, whenever I occasionally pass through Chongjian Street I feel puzzled: aren’t the local residents very worried that fire engines and ambulances will have difficulty passing when a fire or medical emergency occurs?

So why do they all turn a blind eye to the illegal parking on the local red lines?

In particular, whenever the author passes by, I can often see the same Wagon compact SUV parked illegally all day long.

One day, while passing along the same stretch of road, I saw a beautiful, luxurious white high-end BMW sports car illegally parked on the red line of the small street. The author immediately called 1999 to report it to the New Taipei City Government, hoping the police would send a tow truck to take the car to the towing storage yard for safekeeping.

Although the service representative was only an employee of an outsourced vendor, their attitude was quite good. They quickly accepted the report and said they would ask the unit to go to the scene to enforce the law. The case was logged at around 18:27 in the evening.

It was not until 19:24 in the evening that the New Taipei City Government 1999 service hotline sent a case-closure notification text message via the phone number “0911517517,” informing that the case had been completed by the police precinct.

After returning home, I turned on the computer and went online to check the case-closure report at the “New Taipei City Government Cloud Counter: Case Progress Inquiry,” and found that although officers from the Tamsui Precinct had gone to the scene to enforce the law, they did not find the illegally parked vehicle.

Well, it is quite normal for the white sports car to suddenly run off after I reported it, but from the 1999 case filing to the case-closure notification, the process actually took nearly an hour. Even I would have already eaten and drunk my fill and driven home—who would be foolish enough to wait at the scene for the police to come and catch them?

I suggest that next time you want to report a car or heavy motorcycle illegally parked on a red line, if there is time pressure, just pick up the phone and dial 110 to report it directly, rather than going through the 1999 service hotline for referral!

If there is no urgency, then just take a photo yourself and report the illegal parking to the respective transportation bureau. Although doing so is undoubtedly a drop in the bucket for small alleys that need to be kept clear often, and merely results in a fine afterward, at least it can give those who park illegally a bit of a warning.