Roads, trains and planes were all packed yesterday as millions of people headed home from their Lunar New Year holiday.
Traffic on the two north-south freeways was heavy all day.
PHOTO: HUANG HSU-LEI, TAIPEI TIMES
To minimize traffic congestion, the Taiwan Area National Freeway Bureau allowed vehicles to travel toll-free between 12am and 6am both Monday and yesterday.
Holiday traffic restrictions barred vehicles carrying fewer than three people from the freeways between 9am and 5pm yesterday.
Authorities had expected vehicles to average 80kph on the freeways, but heavy traffic in some areas, including around Miaoli, Chungli and Yangmei, slowed cars to an average of 20kph to 40kph.
Rest areas along the freeways were also crowded and lines of cars formed as people waited for parking spaces.
According to the traffic bureau, some 2.38 million vehicles used the two freeways yesterday, with over 140,000 more vehicles using the northbound highways than the southbound highways.
The 52 south- and northbound trains operated by the Taiwan Railway Administration were full yesterday. Officials said there were still a few seats available on today's trains in either direction.
TransAsia Airways, UNI Airways and Far East Air Transport Corp said that all seats on their northbound flights yesterday were full.
Meanwhile, the chilly temperatures that kept people bundled up over the holidays will continue.
The Central Weather Bureau yesterday warned that a cold front from China will make today -- the final day of the official Lunar New Year holiday -- the coldest one yet of the vacation.
Temperatures are expected to drop as low as 8?C both today and tomorrow.
Three Taiwanese airlines have prohibited passengers from packing Bluetooth earbuds and their charger cases in checked luggage. EVA Air and Uni Air said that Bluetooth earbuds and charger cases are categorized as portable electronic devices, which should be switched off if they are placed in checked luggage based on international aviation safety regulations. They must not be in standby or sleep mode. However, as charging would continue when earbuds are placed in the charger cases, which would contravene international aviation regulations, their cases must be carried as hand luggage, they said. Tigerair Taiwan said that earbud charger cases are equipped
Foreign travelers entering Taiwan on a short layover via Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport are receiving NT$600 gift vouchers from yesterday, the Tourism Administration said, adding that it hopes the incentive would boost tourism consumption at the airport. The program, which allows travelers holding non-Taiwan passports who enter the country during a layover of up to 24 hours to claim a voucher, aims to promote attractions at the airport, the agency said in a statement on Friday. To participate, travelers must sign up on the campaign Web site, the agency said. They can then present their passport and boarding pass for their connecting international
UNILATERAL MOVES: Officials have raised concerns that Beijing could try to exert economic control over Kinmen in a key development plan next year The Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) yesterday said that China has so far failed to provide any information about a new airport expected to open next year that is less than 10km from a Taiwanese airport, raising flight safety concerns. Xiamen Xiangan International Airport is only about 3km at its closest point from the islands in Kinmen County — the scene of on-off fighting during the Cold War — and construction work can be seen and heard clearly from the Taiwan side. In a written statement sent to Reuters, the CAA said that airports close to each other need detailed advanced
WEATHER Typhoon forming: CWA A tropical depression is expected to form into a typhoon as early as today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday, adding that the storm’s path remains uncertain. Before the weekend, it would move toward the Philippines, the agency said. Some time around Monday next week, it might reach a turning point, either veering north toward waters east of Taiwan or continuing westward across the Philippines, the CWA said. Meanwhile, the eye of Typhoon Kalmaegi was 1,310km south-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, as of 2am yesterday, it said. The storm is forecast to move through central
RSS