Taoyuan's push to fix its "hell for pedestrians" reputation is falling short, which is bad news for people walking to school and work in the city's outer districts.

• Taoyuan scored only a "B" grade on national sidewalk assessments two years running.
• Complaints about broken, uneven sidewalks went up, not down — from 139 to 167 in a year.
• City officials admit the easy stretches are done and the rest is blocked by narrow roads and private land.
• Rural districts like Fuxing, Yangmei, Guanyin and Longtan have more than half their wider roads with no sidewalk at all.
• Council members from across parties say the city's pedestrian slogan is turning into empty talk.

Outlook: The city still claims it will hit 60% sidewalk coverage this year, but the pace of work suggests that target will be hard to reach.