The nation's freeways, airports and railway stations were packed with travelers yesterday, while conditions on minor roads were reported as "normal" and Taipei City's newly introduced tomb-sweeping shuttle-buses were in high demand, causing delays which passengers took in their stride.
Freeways were inundated, with the Taiwan Area National Freeway Bureau (TANFB,
Traffic hold-ups were reported nationwide, the longest in the central section of the Sun Yat-sen Freeway (
Railway stations and airports were also crowded.
"I haven't seen such a crowd at the airport for more than a year-and-a-half," said a senior clerk of the Far East Air Transport Corp's (遠東航空) counter at Taipei's Sungshan Airport (松山機場).
The Tomb-Sweeping Festival is a day when Chinese the world over pay homage at the resting places of their forebears.
Passengers on Taipei's shuttle buses reported waiting periods of up to an hour for places on the buses, which ran at half-hourly intervals. There were no reports of incidents involving angry or unruly passengers, however.
Chen Jung-hung (陳榮鴻) director of the city's Office of Funeral Management, said his office was overwhelmed. "We supplied 70 buses. We thought this would be sufficient, but there were more people than we had expected."
The Taipei City Government decided to provide the free shuttle services this year in order to minimize traffic congestion and pollution -- and to make it more convenient for Taipei residents to perform tomb-sweeping rites in suburban areas. The buses could be stopped upon request at any point along the route, rather than stopping at regular stops.
All the buses started their journeys from the Taipei City Zoo in Mucha. The provision of shuttle buses is just one reform among many that the Taipei City Government has implemented within the last two years for the facilitation of funerals, burials, cremations and ancestor worship. The reforms are aimed at modernizing and better managing the logistics surrounding the religious holiday. This is especially meaningful in light of a raft of less traditional, eccentric practices contrived by the operators of funeral parlors as money-spinning ruses.
The city government also cancelled leave for firefighters at eleven fire stations earmarked as the first line of defense in the event of fires getting out of control at the city's 55 graveyards and cemeteries. It urged residents to be careful when burning "paper money" as offerings to the dead. Most of the graveyards are located in hilly areas where fire would be easily spread by wind. No fires were reported yesterday.
The Yeh family in Hsinwu township (
Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (
As he stood in line, he was asked how he wished his own body to be disposed of after his death.
"Personally, I would prefer to be cremated and have my ashes thrown into the sea after the vital organs have been removed. That way, I will not be taking up space in the world," he said.
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