There is likely to be heavy traffic on the nation’s freeways on Jan. 24 and Jan. 25 over the Lunar New Year holiday, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications said yesterday, adding that it could take more than seven hours to travel between Taipei and Kaohsiung on Jan. 25.
Minister of Transportation and Communications Mao Chi-kuo (毛治國) said that as the Lunar New Year holiday is nine days long this year, travelers have more flexibility in choosing when they begin their trip home.
Mao said motorists could save time on the road by taking advantage of the toll-free hours between 12am and 7am from Jan. 21 to Jan. 29, as well as the high-occupancy vehicle hours between 9am and 3pm on Jan. 26 and Jan. 27.
The ministry also encouraged people to use public transport if they are planning to travel to Yilan during the holiday period, adding that compared with driving, taking a freeway bus could save about 30 minutes.
National Freeway Bureau Director-General Tseng Dar-jen (曾大仁) said the volume of traffic on freeways could reach 2.9 million vehicles on Jan. 24 and more than 3 million on Jan. 25.
In the worst-case scenario, Tseng said, it might take about seven hours to travel from Taipei to Kaohsiung.
“Motorists are advised to plan their trip ahead and use the Internet and their mobile phones to check for the latest traffic reports,” Tseng said.
Meanwhile, the bureau yesterday announced that motorists would soon be able to buy eTags at convenience stores.
Previously, motorists needed to purchase on-board units to use the electronic toll-collection system, but the contractor failed to raise the usage rate to that stated in the contract.
Instead, the contractor last year decided to introduce the eTag system, with the tags being given to motorists free of charge.
The bureau said the contractor first trialed the eTag system with motorists in Keelung City, adding that the response was positive.
Statistics show that it took three years and eight months for the number of on-board units purchased in Keelung to reach 15,000.
The same number was reached within just 19 days after the eTag system was introduced.
The first of 10 new high-capacity trains purchased from South Korea’s Hyundai Rotem arrived at the Port of Taipei yesterday to meet the demands of an expanding metro network, Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC) said yesterday. The train completed a three-day, 1,200km voyage from the Port of Masan in South Korea, the company said. Costing NT$590 million (US$18.79 million) each, the new six-carriage trains feature a redesigned interior based on "human-centric" transportation concepts, TRTC said. The design utilizes continuous longitudinal seating to widen the aisles and optimize passenger flow, while also upgrading passenger information displays and driving control systems for a more comfortable
Taiwan's first indigenous defense submarine, the SS-711 Hai Kun (海鯤, or Narwhal), departed for its 13th sea trial at 7am today, marking its seventh submerged test, with delivery to the navy scheduled for July. The outing also marked its first sea deployment since President William Lai (賴清德) boarded the submarine for an inspection on March 19, drawing a crowd of military enthusiasts who gathered to show support. The submarine this morning departed port accompanied by CSBC Corp’s Endeavor Manta (奮進魔鬼魚號) uncrewed surface vessel and a navy M109 assault boat. Amid public interest in key milestones such as torpedo-launching operations and overnight submerged trials,
Quarantine awareness posters at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport have gone viral for their use of wordplay. Issued by the airport branch of the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency, the posters feature sniffer dogs making a range of facial expressions, paired with advisory messages built around homophones. “We update the messages for holidays and campaign needs, periodically refreshing materials to attract people’s attention,” quarantine officials said. “The aim is to use the dogs’ appeal to draw focus to quarantine regulations.” A Japanese traveler visiting Taiwan has posted a photo on X of a poster showing a quarantine dog with a
Taiwan’s coffee community has launched a “one-person-one-e-mail” campaign, calling for people to send a protest-e-mail to the World Coffee Championships (WCC) urging it to redesignate Taiwanese competitors as from “Taiwan,” rather than “Chinese Taipei.” The call followed sudden action last week after the WCC changed all references to Taiwanese competitors from “Taiwan” to “Chinese Taipei,” including recent World Latte Art champion Bala (林紹興), who won the World Latte Art Championship in San Diego earlier this month. When Bala received the trophy, he was referred to as representing Taiwan, as well as in the announcement on the WCC’s Web site, until it
RSS