The Freeway Bureau is to update its smartphone app, Freeway 1968 (高速公路1968), with enhanced functionality to help prevent the spread of COVID-19 over the International Workers’ Day long weekend next week.
The new version of the app features colors indicating different levels of crowd density at targeted scenic areas, with “red” signifying a high-density crowd or traffic congestion that people should avoid, a source with knowledge of the matter said.
The updated app has passed tests on iOS devices, the source said.
Photo: Lo Pei-der, Taipei Times
The app would target 175 hotspots that are typically crowded at holidays, Minister of Transportation and Communications Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday, adding that the update would be available before the holiday begins on Friday next week.
The app would help with traffic control by sending alerts when the number of vehicles in or near a parking lot accounts for more than half of the total number of vehicles in a scenic area, Lin said.
Taipei Deputy Mayor Vivian Huang (黃珊珊), who yesterday inspected a quarantine hotel in Taipei with Lin and Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌), said that closed-circuit television footage would be uploaded to the Travel Taipei Web site for people to determine whether a destination is overcrowded.
In response to questions about whether the government would cancel the holiday to limit the spread of COVID-19, Su said that the holiday is observed annually and this year would be no different.
While many countries are under lockdowns, Taiwan is one of the few where people can still live a normal life and travel at will, and where students can still attend school, he said.
The government encourages people to carry on with their lives normally over the holiday, he said.
Asked whether he expected people to stay home for the holiday after on Friday saying that “going on a holiday does not mean going on a trip,” Su said that he had meant that people do not have to travel.
If people intend to travel, they should follow guidelines issued by Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) and manage their own health to avoid spreading COVID-19, he said.
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