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.
China appears to have built mockups of a port in northeastern Taiwan and a military vessel docked there, with the aim of using them as targets to test its ballistic missiles, a retired naval officer said yesterday. Lu Li-shih (呂禮詩), a former lieutenant commander in Taiwan’s navy, wrote on Facebook that satellite images appeared to show simulated targets in a desert in China’s Xinjiang region that resemble the Suao naval base in Yilan County and a Kidd-class destroyer that usually docks there. Lu said he compared the mockup port to US naval bases in Yokosuka and Sasebo, Japan, and in Subic Bay
Police are investigating the death of a Formosan black bear discovered on Tuesday buried near an industrial road in Nantou County, with initial evidence indicating that it was shot accidentally by a hunter. The bear had been caught in wildlife traps at least five times before, three times since 2020. Codenamed No. 711, the bear received extensive media coverage last year after it was discovered trapped twice in less than two months in the Taichung mountains. After its most recent ensnarement last month, the bear was released in the Dandashan (丹大山) area in Nantou County’s Sinyi Township (信義). However, officials became concerned after the
The majority of parents surveyed in northern Taiwan favor the suspension of all on-site classes at schools from the junior-high level and below amid a surge in domestic COVID-19 infections, parent groups said yesterday. About 84.4 percent of respondents in a survey of 2,912 parents in northern Taiwan, where the outbreak is the most serious, said they supported suspending classes, the Action Alliance on Basic Education, the Taiwan Parents Protect Women and Children Association, and the Taiwan Love Children Association said. The groups distributed questionnaires to parents in New Taipei City, Taipei, Keelung, Taoyuan and Hsinchu city and county from Saturday morning
DETERRENCE: US National Security Council Indo-Pacific Coordinator Kurt Campbell said cross-strait affairs are on the agenda at the US-ASEAN Special Leaders’ Summit The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday thanked the Czech Senate for passing a resolution supporting Taiwan’s inclusion in the WHO and other international organizations for the second consecutive year. The resolution was passed on Wednesday with 51 votes in favor, one opposed and 11 abstentions. In addition to the WHO, it also called for Taiwan’s participation in the “meetings, mechanisms and activities” of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, the International Civil Aviation Organization and Interpol. In its opening, the resolution states that the Czech Republic “considers Taiwan as one of its key partners in the Indo-Pacific region,” while noting its
RSS