Freeways are to be toll-free from 12am to 5am during the four-day Double Ten National Day holiday to facilitate traffic, while fees during selected times are to be reduced, the National Freeway Bureau said yesterday.
The announcement came after the Central News Agency reported on Thursday that Premier William Lai (賴清德) said there would be toll-free hours during the National Day holiday this year, which is to take place from Oct. 7 to Oct. 10.
He said he would let the Ministry of Transportation and Communications explain to the public how it plans to enforce the policy.
The announcement was made by Department of Railways and Highways Director-General Chen Wen-juei (陳文瑞) and bureau Director-General Chao Hsin-hua (趙興華) during a news conference yesterday.
For the first time, the bureau is to also implement reduced-fee hours during the holiday, it said.
The hours are to be 2pm to 7pm on Oct. 7 and 6am to 11am on Oct. 10, during which there will be a 30 percent discount, the bureau said.
People traveling on Formosa Freeway (Freeway No. 3) instead of the Sun Yat-sen Freeway (Freeway No. 1) are to be given an additional 20 percent discount, it added.
No free or reduced tolls are to be implemented during the Mid-Autumn Festival on Oct. 4, as it is only one day, the bureau said.
However, the regular weekend policy of a toll-free first 20km is to be suspended for the Mid-Autumn Festival and the National Day holiday, it added.
Asked if Minister of Transportation and Communications Hochen Tan (賀陳旦), who was not at the news conference, and Lai had disagreed on whether there should be toll-free hours during the National Day holiday, Chao said he was not privy to their conversations.
“People are used to having toll-free hours between 12am and 5am; any change might inconvenience drivers. As such, the toll-free hours will be between 12am and 5am,” Chao said, adding that the conclusion was reached following discussions at the Legislative Yuan.
However, the presentation by the bureau showed that toll-free hours were only minimally successful in diverting daytime traffic.
Citing data from the past two Dragon Boat Festival holidays, both of which were four-day weekends, the bureau said that traffic during the toll-free hours on average only accounted for 13 to 14 percent of overall traffic volume.
The data also showed that the average nighttime fatal accident rate was 3.3 times higher than during the day, it added.
Reduced toll hours, which the bureau implemented on an experimental basis, provide another option for people who want to pay less, but do not want to travel late at night, the bureau’s Traffic Management Division chief Chuo Ming-chun (卓明君) said.
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