In a bid to ease the nation's traffic gridlock during the Lunar New Year vacation, toll collection will be suspended at all tollbooths on the nation's eight freeways from midnight to 6am every day from Jan. 30 to Feb. 6, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications announced yesterday.
The ministry's plans for the holiday period, which starts on Jan. 31 and lasts until Feb. 5, are divided into three major areas: freeways and highways, railways and aviation.
A great number of people living in northern Taiwan, particularly in Taipei, will return to their hometowns in the south or other parts of Taiwan for the vacation.
The ministry's plans mainly aim to relieve southbound traffic on Jan. 30 and 31 and northbound traffic on Feb. 4 and 5.
"In order to cope with the huge road traffic volume, I instructed the Department of Railways and Highways to start designing relief plans as early as two months ago," said Minister of Transportation and Communications Lin Ling-san (林陵三).
According to James Chen (陳晉源), director-general of the department, it will take drivers between five and six hours to travel from Taipei to Kaohsiung on Freeway No.1 (the Sun Yat-sen Freeway) during the vacation.
The 373km freeway starts in Keelung and terminates in Kaohsiung. Taiwan also has seven other freeways.
The Taiwan Area National Freeway Bureau will launch three measures to relieve freeway traffic congestion: the suspension of toll collections, traffic control at freeway entrances and exits and the utilization of freeway hard shoulders as traffic lanes.
Toll collection will be suspended at all tollbooths on the eight freeways from midnight to 6am every day from Jan. 30 to Feb. 6.
Toll collection will also be completely suspended on all freeways from 6am to 12am on Jan. 31 and from 9am to 5pm on Feb. 4 because freeway traffic volumes are expected to peak in the two periods, according to the bureau.
Traffic control will be implemented at all entrances of Freeway No. 1 from 7am to 7pm every day during the vacation.
The hard shoulders of the CKS Airport branch of Freeway No. 1 will be opened for use from 7am to 7pm every day from Jan. 31 to Feb. 5.
Those wanting to know about freeway conditions can dial a toll-free line on 0800-008-456 for further information or dial 1968 or 168 for real-time freeway information.
The Taiwan Railway Administration plans to add 580 trains to its schedules from Jan.29 to Feb.10.
Bookings for eastern line trains for the period between Jan. 15 and Feb. 10 begins at 6am on Jan. 14. Bookings for western line trains during the period from Jan. 17 to Feb.10 open at 6am on Jan. 16.
Tickets may be booked online at railway.hinet.net or by phone. Phone numbers and the addresses of train stations across the island are available at the Web site www.railway.gov.tw/taiwan/servicetel.html.
According to the Civil Aviation Administration, a total of 8,249 flights will take place between Jan. 28 and Feb. 10, providing an overall capacity of 836,505 seats.
Last year, 516,568 passengers took flights during the Lunar New Year vacation. This year's overall capacity of all flights is 61.93 percent higher than last year's.
Taiwan has experienced its most significant improvement in the QS World University Rankings by Subject, data provided on Sunday by international higher education analyst Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) showed. Compared with last year’s edition of the rankings, which measure academic excellence and influence, Taiwanese universities made great improvements in the H Index metric, which evaluates research productivity and its impact, with a notable 30 percent increase overall, QS said. Taiwanese universities also made notable progress in the Citations per Paper metric, which measures the impact of research, achieving a 13 percent increase. Taiwanese universities gained 10 percent in Academic Reputation, but declined 18 percent
RETHINK? The defense ministry and Navy Command Headquarters could take over the indigenous submarine project and change its production timeline, a source said Admiral Huang Shu-kuang’s (黃曙光) resignation as head of the Indigenous Submarine Program and as a member of the National Security Council could affect the production of submarines, a source said yesterday. Huang in a statement last night said he had decided to resign due to national security concerns while expressing the hope that it would put a stop to political wrangling that only undermines the advancement of the nation’s defense capabilities. Taiwan People’s Party Legislator Vivian Huang (黃珊珊) yesterday said that the admiral, her older brother, felt it was time for him to step down and that he had completed what he
BULLY TACTICS: Beijing has continued its incursions into Taiwan’s airspace even as Xi Jinping talked about Taiwan being part of the Chinese family and nation China should stop its coercion of Taiwan and respect mainstream public opinion in Taiwan about sovereignty if its expression of goodwill is genuine, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said yesterday. Ministry spokesman Jeff Liu (劉永健) made the comment in response to media queries about a meeting between former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) the previous day. Ma voiced support for the so-called “1992 consensus,” while Xi said that although the two sides of the Taiwan Strait have “different systems,” this does not change the fact that they are “part of the same country,” and that “external
UNDER DISCUSSION: The combatant command would integrate fast attack boat and anti-ship missile groups to defend waters closest to the coastline, a source said The military could establish a new combatant command as early as 2026, which would be tasked with defending Taiwan’s territorial waters 24 nautical miles (44.4km) from the nation’s coastline, a source familiar with the matter said yesterday. The new command, which would fall under the Naval Command Headquarters, would be led by a vice admiral and integrate existing fast attack boat and anti-ship missile groups, along with the Naval Maritime Surveillance and Reconnaissance Command, said the source, who asked to remain anonymous. It could be launched by 2026, but details are being discussed and no final timetable has been announced, the source