Drivers on freeways are to enjoy toll-free hours from 11pm to 6am during the 228 Memorial Day holiday, the National Freeway Bureau announced yesterday.
The bureau made public the measures it would take to ease freeway traffic during the three-day national holiday, which begins on Feb. 28.
According to the bureau, the toll rates during the 228 Memorial Day holiday will be exactly the same as those implemented during the past Lunar New Year holiday.
Drivers will not get 20km toll-free as they do on a regular day. Each small passenger vehicle driver will be charged NT$0.9 per kilometer traveled, whereas those driving large passenger vehicles or large trucks will be charged NT$1.12 and NT$1.35 per kilometer traveled respectively.
Drivers on Formosa Freeway (National Freeway No. 3) in the section between Hsinchu and Yanchao (燕巢) will be given a 20 percent discount during the holiday.
The bureau added that the high-occupancy vehicle policy will only be implemented on March 1 and March 2 between 3pm and 8pm on the northbound lanes of the Chiang Wei-shui Freeway (Freeway No. 5).
Meanwhile, the bureau is to open shoulder roads in certain sections of the freeways from 7am to 7pm during the three-day holiday, including southbound lanes between Yangmei (楊梅) and Hukou (湖口) on the National Sun Yat-sen freeway (Freeway No. 1) and northbound lanes from Wufong (霧峰) and Jhungtou (中投) on Freeway No. 3.
The nation launched a new system in December last year, in terms of which motorists are charged based on the distances they traveled, instead of the previously used tollbooth collection points.
The use of tollbooths was replaced with an automated system that scans each vehicle’s Electronic Toll Collection tag when it enters and exits the No. 1, No. 3 or No. 5 freeways.
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