Fewer than 70,000 people are expected to travel by train or freeway bus during the three-day Dragon Boat Festival holiday amid a nationwide level 3 COVID-19 alert, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications said yesterday.
Many have expressed concern that traveling and family gatherings during the long weekend, which begins tomorrow and ends on Monday, would spread the disease and worsen the outbreak.
As such, the ministry has encouraged people to avoid travel and stay home as much as possible.
Photo courtesy of Taiwan High Speed Rail
As of Wednesday, 38,863 high-speed rail tickets had been sold, accounting for 5.55 percent of total capacity, data from the Department of Railways and Highways showed.
Taiwan Railways Administration reported selling only 26,250 tickets for the long weekend, which translates to a load factor of just 3.56 percent, while freeway bus operators had sold 4,863 tickets, or 3.78 percent of capacity, the department said.
Railway and bus operators have all managed to keep their load factors far below 20 percent, per the instructions of the Central Epidemic Command Center, it added.
To further deter road trips, Freeway Bureau Director-General Chao Hsin-hua (趙興華) yesterday announced that the bureau would implement high-intensity freeway traffic control measures for the first time by extending motor vehicles’ wait time on feeder roads to freeways, and close all shopping areas and food courts at freeway rest areas.
Those who breach the rules on feeder roads would be fined up to NT$6,000.
The goal is to reduce the number of motor vehicles on freeways to about 1 million per day, Chao said.
The increasing number of people staying home has boosted demand for broadband services, as well as delivery services by post offices.
Chunghwa Telecom has attracted more than 20,000 broadband service subscribers since the CECC on May 19 issued the nationwide alert, of which 11,665 subscribed to its 300 megabits per second (Mpbs) service, National Communications Commission (NCC) data showed.
HomePlus Digital, the nation’s largest multiple-system operator, also reported that it has gained 4,127 new broadband subscribers during this period, while Kbro has attracted 2,595 new subscribers, the NCC said.
Chunghwa Post has seen a 25 percent increase in the average number of packages delivered per day ahead of the holiday after four private companies suspended domestic cold chain logistics services.
From May 1 to May 9, post offices nationwide delivered an average of 113,000 packages per day, Chunghwa Post said.
That surged to an average of 141,000 per day from Tuesday last week to Wednesday, it said.
As a universal service, the postal company cannot turn away customers, despite the increase in workload, it said, adding that its delivery charges are significantly lower than those of private logistics firms.
“China is preparing to invade Taiwan,” Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu (吳志中) said in an exclusive interview with British media channel Sky News for a special report titled, “Is Taiwan ready for a Chinese invasion?” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said today in a statement. The 25-minute-long special report by Helen Ann-Smith released yesterday saw Sky News travel to Penghu, Taoyuan and Taipei to discuss the possibility of a Chinese invasion and how Taiwan is preparing for an attack. The film observed emergency response drills, interviewed baseball fans at the Taipei Dome on their views of US President
ECONOMIC BENEFITS: The imports from Belize would replace those from Honduras, whose shrimp exports have dropped 67 percent since cutting ties in 2023 Maintaining ties with Taiwan has economic benefits, Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials said yesterday, citing the approval of frozen whiteleg shrimp imports from Belize by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as an example. The FDA on Wednesday approved the tariff-free imports from Belize after the whiteleg shrimp passed the Systematic Inspection of Imported Food, which would continue to boost mutual trade, the ministry said. Taiwan’s annual consumption of whiteleg shrimps stands at 30,000 tonnes, far exceeding domestic production, the ministry said. Taiwan used to fill the gap by importing shrimps from Honduras, but purchases slumped after Tegucigalpa severed diplomatic ties with Taiwan
The Executive Yuan yesterday approved a southwestern extension of the Sanying MRT Line from New Taipei to Bade District (八德) in Taoyuan, with a goal of starting construction by late 2026. The 4.03-kilometer extension, featuring three new stations, will run from the current terminus at Yingtao Fude Station (LB12) in New Taipei City to Dannan Station (LB14), where it will connect with Taoyuan’s Green Line, New Taipei City Metro Corp said in a statement. This extension will follow the completion of core Sanying Line, a 14.29-kilometer medium-capacity system linking Tucheng (土城), Sansia (三峽)
CARGO LOSS: About 50 containers at the stern of the ‘Ever Lunar’ cargo ship went overboard, prompting the temporary closure of the port and disrupting operations Evergreen Marine Corp, Taiwan’s largest container shipper, yesterday said that all crew members aboard the Ever Lunar (長月) were safe after dozens of containers fell overboard off the coast of Peru the previous day. The incident occurred at 9:40am on Friday as the Ever Lunar was anchored and waiting to enter the Port of Callao when it suddenly experienced severe rolling, Evergreen said in a statement. The rolling, which caused the containers to fall, might have been caused by factors including a tsunami triggered by an earthquake in Russia, poor winter sea conditions in South America or a sudden influx of waves,
RSS