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Long haul home begins

An estimated 2.6 million vehicles hit the road yesterday, making it the busiest day of the Lunar New Year holiday, the National Freeway Bureau said, urging the public to use public transport.

The bureau said that yesterday and today were expected to be peak travel days because most people would be heading back to work tomorrow after the Lunar New Year break.

But traffic flow this year had been relatively smooth, with only a handful of accidents reported, the bureau said.

A slow-moving, 4km line of cars was reported inside the Hsuehshan Tunnel for several hours as travelers headed north from Ilan County.

Vehicles were reported to be moving as slowly as 20kph on several sections of freeway.

To avoid heavy jams, vehicles with less than three passengers will be prohibited from traveling on freeways today, the bureau said.

For the Sun Yat-sen Freeway (Freeway No. 1) and the Formosa Freeway (Freeway No. 3), restrictions apply between 7am and 3pm. Restrictions for the Chiang Wei-shui Freeway (Freeway No. 5) apply between 1pm and 5pm.

The freeways will be toll-free at these times.

A truck driver told by police to leave Freeway No. 2 in Taoyuan County said he thought the passenger rule was unfair.

"I have merchandise that I have to deliver to the factory and this restriction is stopping me from delivering the goods on time," he said.

A Taipei County resident who traveled to Taichung to visit his wife's family said the toll-free period should be extended to 24 hours for the entire holiday break.

"What's the point of having the restriction when everyone is trying to get on the freeway at the same time to take advantage of the toll-free period? The government should just extend the toll-free period so that people can have greater flexibility when they travel," he said.

Police said most drivers had been cooperative when ordered to exit freeways for not meeting the three-passenger restriction.

Meanwhile, local cable stations showed footage of tourists hiking to Hohuanshan (合歡山) to enjoy the snow because of heavy traffic on the Central Cross-Island Highway.

One car-bound tourist told a reporter that he had been stuck in traffic for more than three hours, but that "it is all worthwhile just to see the snow."

ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY JENNY W. HSU
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