The Taiwan High-Speed Rail Corp (THSRC) sold 700,000 tickets for the Lunar New Year holiday period in the first hour that tickets went on sale this morning, a record high.
With this year’s Lunar New Year running for nine days from Feb. 14 to 22, the THSRC set an 11-day holiday transport period from Feb. 13 to 23 to accommodate heavy passenger demand, the company said on Wednesday.
The THSRC is operating 395 additional trains during that period, 170 running southbound and 225 running northbound, bringing the total number of trains operating during the period to 2,162.
Photo courtesy of Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp via CNA
Within an hour of tickets for the 11-day period going on sale at midnight, the company sold a record 700,000 tickets, 40,000 more than the first hour of ticket sales last year, its data showed.
Ticket sales reached 826,000 as of 8am, 12.5 percent more than during the first eight hours last year, the THSRC said.
Before opening holiday ticket sales, the company adjusted its online reservation system to accommodate up to 38,400 people simultaneously, it said.
It sold 58,000 tickets just four minutes after they went on sale, 172,000 after 12 minutes, 268,000 after 22 minutes and 374,000 after 32 minutes, it added.
The company said it would continue to monitor bookings to ensure passengers can all smoothly reserve tickets.
To encourage off-peak travel, the THSRC said it would continue to offer early-bird discounts during the holiday period.
A total of 617 designated off-peak services would offer limited early-bird fares with 50 percent, 20 percent or 10 percent discounts, providing more than 84,000 discounted seats over the 11-day period, the company added.
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