Traffic on the nation’s highways flowed smoothly on the first day of the Lunar New Year holiday yesterday, with reports of delays at only a couple of southbound sections, the National Freeway Bureau said.
To ease traffic on Lunar New Year’s Eve, the bureau closed the toll booths from midnight to 7am and executed its high occupancy vehicle (HOV) policy from 7am to noon.
Bureau statistics showed average driving speeds on the southbound section near the Changhua System Interchange on Freeway No. 1 were below 40kph at about 7am, the only section that reported slow traffic in the morning.
While traffic volume on southbound lanes rose slightly after the HOV hours ended, drivers were still able to drive on most sections at 80kph or above.
Sections between the Jhongli (中壢) and Pinjheng (平鎮) System Interchange and between the Changhua (彰化) and Puyan (埔鹽) System Interchange on Freeway No. 1 were the only exceptions, with drivers being forced to slow down to between 60kph and 80kph.
The bureau said approximately 1.5 million cars had used the freeways as of 6pm, down 8 percent from the same period last year.
Meanwhile, the Civil Aeronautics Administration said flights between Taiwan proper and outlying islands were on schedule thanks to fogless weather.
Civil Aeronautics Administration Director General Yin Chen-pong (尹承蓬) said all passengers, including those on waiting lists, were able to board flights on schedule.
For today, the bureau said congestion was expected on several freeway sections. Sections between the Taoyuan and Pinjheng System Interchange on Freeway No. 1, between Shuling (樹林) and Longtan (龍潭) on Freeway No. 3 and southbound lanes from Nangang (南港) to the Hsuehshan Tunnel on Freeway No. 5 could see congestion, Yin said.
Drivers are advised to check traffic updates on the Web site of the National Freeway Bureau at www.freeway.gov.tw before hitting the roads.
People in the north can expect cold and rainy weather until tomorrow, the Central Weather Bureau said yesterday, adding that those in central and southern Taiwan would see a mixture of cloudy and sunny skies.
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it
Taiwan's Gold Apollo Co (金阿波羅通信) said today that the pagers used in detonations in Lebanon the day before were not made by it, but by a company called BAC which has a license to use its brand. At least nine people were killed and nearly 3,000 wounded when pagers used by Hezbollah members detonated simultaneously across Lebanon yesterday. Images of destroyed pagers analyzed by Reuters showed a format and stickers on the back that were consistent with pagers made by Gold Apollo. A senior Lebanese security source told Reuters that Hezbollah had ordered 5,000 pagers from Taiwan-based Gold Apollo. "The product was not
COLD FACTS: ‘Snow skin’ mooncakes, made with a glutinous rice skin and kept at a low temperature, have relatively few calories compared with other mooncakes Traditional mooncakes are a typical treat for many Taiwanese in the lead-up to the Mid-Autumn Festival, but a Taipei-based dietitian has urged people not to eat more than one per day and not to have them every day due to their high fat and calorie content. As mooncakes contain a lot of oil and sugar, they can have negative health effects on older people and those with diabetes, said Lai Yu-han (賴俞含), a dietitian at Taipei Hospital of the Ministry of Health and Welfare. “The maximum you can have is one mooncake a day, and do not eat them every day,” Lai