Rush hour hit downtown Taipei earlier than normal yesterday, as millions of motorists headed south for the annual Mid-Autumn Festival.
The official Mid-Autumn Festival holiday falls on Tuesday, but many Taipei residents chose to leave yesterday in an attempt to beat the rush.
By 3:30pm, traffic on Taipei's Jianguo Overpass (
The scenario had been foreseen by the Taiwan Area National Freeway Bureau, which estimated that traffic would be heavy between 3pm and 10pm.
To ease congestion, the bureau has decided that freeways will be toll-free between 12am and 6am until Tuesday.
Meanwhile, the shoulders of some freeways -- including the southbound and northbound lanes of the Neili (內壢) and Jhongli (中壢) sections of the Sun Yat-sen Freeway and the southbound lanes of the Dasi (大溪) and Longtan (龍潭) sections of the Formosa Freeway -- will be open to traffic between 7am and 7pm daily.
The bureau estimated that the daily traffic volume could reach between 2.2 million and 2.4 million vehicles, exceeding volumes predicted for the Dragon Boat Festival.
Both railway and freeway bus firms have expanded their services to meet demand. The Taiwan Railway Administration and Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp both sold out of tickets for southbound trains departing yesterday and today, as well as for northbound trains on Tuesday.
Airline tickets for today and Tuesday are also in high demand.
Minister of Transportation and Communications Tsai Duei (
He said airlines had introduced more flights to carry passengers to Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu. He said further flights could be added, depending on the number of passengers on waiting lists.
Tsai said he had noticed that some of the airline ticket fares had dropped below those of the High Speed Rail, adding that this was a welcome development.
"The decrease in airfares will help raise the passenger occupancy rate for the airlines," he said. "So long as the measure does not compromise flight safety, [this is a good thing]."
Meanwhile, direct charter flights between Taiwan and China began yesterday, with a total of 12 Taiwanese and Chinese airlines offering the service for a six-day period during the festival.
According to an agreement between the two countries, the airlines will offer a total of 48 flights between Taipei and four Chinese cities: Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou and Xiamen.
The service was initiated to allow Taiwanese businesspeople operating in China and their family members to return home for family reunions.
The flights were first offered last year because of the large number of Taiwanese businesspeople operating in China.
In related news, the Central Weather Bureau said the weather during the holidays would be rather unstable because of the influence of low pressure systems near Taiwan.
The bureau said two systems had formed on Thursday, one to the east of the Philippines and the other to the northeast of Guam.
The bureau forecast an 80 percent chance of rain on the east coast and a 30 percent to 40 percent chance of rain on the west coast.
Additional reporting by CNA
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