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.
A 72-year-old man in Kaohsiung was sentenced to 40 days in jail after he was found having sex with a 67-year-old woman under a slide in a public park on Sunday afternoon. At 3pm on Sunday, a mother surnamed Liang (梁) was with her child at a neighborhood park when they found the man, surnamed Tsai (蔡), and woman, surnamed Huang (黃), underneath the slide. Liang took her child away from the scene, took photographs of the two and called the police, who arrived and arrested the couple. During questioning, Tsai told police that he had met Huang that day and offered to
LOOKING NORTH: The base would enhance the military’s awareness of activities in the Bashi Channel, which China Coast Guard ships have been frequenting, an expert said The Philippine Navy on Thursday last week inaugurated a forward operating base in the country’s northern most province of Batanes, which at 185km from Taiwan would be strategically important in a military conflict in the Taiwan Strait. The Philippine Daily Inquirer quoted Northern Luzon Command Commander Lieutenant General Fernyl Buca as saying that the base in Mahatao would bolster the country’s northern defenses and response capabilities. The base is also a response to the “irregular presence this month of armed” of China Coast Guard vessels frequenting the Bashi Channel in the Luzon Strait just south of Taiwan, the paper reported, citing a
BETTER SERVICE QUALITY: From Nov. 10, tickets with reserved seats would only be valid for the date, train and route specified on the ticket, THSRC said Starting on Nov. 10, high-speed rail passengers with reserved seats would be required to exchange their tickets to board an earlier train. Passengers with reserved seats on a specific train are currently allowed to board earlier trains on the same day and sit in non-reserved cars, but as this is happening increasingly often, and affecting quality of travel and ticket sales, Taiwan High-Speed Rail Corp (THSRC) announced that it would be canceling the policy on Nov. 10. It is one of several new measures launched by THSRC chairman Shih Che (史哲) to improve the quality of service, it said. The company also said
A magnitude 6 earthquake last night at 9:11pm struck off northeastern Yilan County, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The earthquake’s epicenter was located in waters between Toucheng Township (頭城) and Turtle Island (Gueishan Island, 龜山島), about 22.1km northeast of Yilan County Hall at a depth of 112km, CWA data showed. There were no immediate reports of damage. The earthquake’s intensity, which gauges the actual effects of a temblor, was highest in Yilan’s Dongshan (冬山) and Nanao (南澳) townships and Taipei’s Xinyi District (信義), where it measured 4 on Taiwan’s seven-tier intensity scale. It measured 3 in other areas of Yilan and Taipei, as