The price for a boom in the number of tourists visiting Pingtung County’s Hengchun Peninsula (恆春半島) is severe congestion along Expressway No. 26 on every holiday and during the annual Spring Scream event, with the expressway completely blocked one day out of nine during such periods.
The Tourism Bureau said the influx of Chinese tourists in the past few years has made Maobitou Park (貓鼻頭公園) and Oluanpi Lighthouse National Park (鵝鑾鼻燈塔公園) popular and it was the first indication that the No. 26 Expressway, the only road linking Hengchun to the rest of Taiwan proper, would suffer heavy traffic.
A rough estimate places visitors to Hengchun using a car as their primary method of travel at 68.9 percent, with 11 percent taking tour buses, 4 percent using Taiwan Railways Administration (TRA) trains and 4 percent taking Taiwan High Speed Rail trains.
In addition to the 71.8 percent of individuals who drive their vehicles directly to Hengchun, others who arrive in Hengchun via alternative travel methods also rent cars after arriving, the bureau said.
The large number of personal vehicles coming and going to popular tourist locations has resulted in a shortage of parking spaces, the bureau said, adding that some people often drive for five to six hours from northern Taiwan, and fatigue is ranked high on the causes of accidents.
To help the development of the public transportation system in Hengchun, the bureau has implemented a project that would ultimately result in five large transportation lines — the Houwan Line linking Checheng Township (車城), Jianshan Township (尖山), Haikou Township (海口) and Houwan Township (後灣); the Hsuhai Line linking the Sihchong River (四重溪) and Mudan Reservoir (牡丹水庫); the Old Hengchun Township Line; the Kenting National Park Line; and the Jioupeng Line linking Manzhou Township (滿州) and Jioupeng (九鵬).
Officials said that they also plan to develop the TRA line that runs through Hengchun as a tourist rail line by introducing special tourist trains with special exterior designs.
The bureau also hopes to introduce electric buses, as well as boat travel between different harbors, officials said.
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