Planning to head home by car this weekend? If you're driving north to Taipei, you'll need at least two other passengers in your vehicle.
The measure is a part of efforts by the Ministry of Transportation and Communications to ease post-holiday traffic. For today and tomorrow, the northbound lanes of the Sun Yat-sen Freeway will be limited to just buses, taxies and cars carrying at least three people.
According to Chi Wen-jong (
The restrictions will apply only to the freeway between Kaohsiung and Fengyuan.
Motorists who ignore the passenger occupancy requirements face a fine of NT$3,000.
Chi said the ministry has adopted the measures to ensure that post-holiday traffic runs smoothly. "A great number of people are heading back to work from their Lunar New Year Holiday," Chi said.
The ministry has also adopted a voluntary scheme it hopes will ease traffic congestion.
"To help distribute the heavy traffic ... we hope that drivers with license plates ending with an even number and a Roman letter will head out on the freeways today, and those with license plates ending with an odd number will hit the roads tomorrow," Chi said.
The transportation official also urged motorists to take advantage of alternative routes and breaks on tolls.
"The Southern Second Freeway will be toll-free through [Monday]," Chi said.
"On the Sun Yat-sen Freeway and the Northern Second Freeway, the toll-free period runs from midnight to 1pm through [Monday]."
Chi said he was hopeful that the measures will result in smooth going for travelers. "If motorists can cooperate by following these traffic measures, I believe that traffic flow this weekend will be smoother than some would have imagined."
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