Taipei City's New Year's Eve party countdown will start at 7pm, featuring local acts such as A-mei (張惠妹), Sodagreen, Mayday and S.H.E. The party will wrap up at 1am.
Fireworks fans can catch the three-minute Taipei 101 spectacle, or celebrate the arrival of 2009 with the Living Mall's show, which is expected to rival the skyscraper's splendor. Neihu District's (內湖) Miramar shopping and entertainment complex will also host a firework show and a concert.
MRT services will increase frequency from 5pm and run around the clock, with trains at least every three minutes.
From midnight to 2:30am, five special bus routes will operate from the concert venue in Xinyi District (信義) to Zhongshan, Taipei Main Station, Gongguan and National Taiwan University Hospital MRT stations, as well as to Muzha (木柵) and Jingmei (景美).
From 7pm, vehicles will be prohibited from entering a boundary in Xinyi District within Songren Road to the east, Xinyi Road, Keelung Road, Renai Road to the south and the west and to Guangfu S Road north to Zhongxiao E Road. From 8pm, no cars will be allowed to leave this area.
From 10pm until 3am, no vehicles will be allowed to enter or exit a wider boundary from the intersection of Zhongxiao E Rd, Sec. 5, Lane 236, along Songde Road Lane 168, then west to Xinyi Road. The Xinyi Expressway is included in this restriction.
The later boundary continues along Xinyi Road, Songren Road, Zhuangjing Road, Xinyi Road, Guangfu S Road and Zhongxiao E Road.
Meanwhile, in Kaohsiung, the Kaohsiung City Government yesterday said the city's MRT system and shuttle buses would offer overnight services.
Trains on the north-south Red Line and east-west Orange Line will operate every five minutes between 4pm and midnight, then every five to eight minutes between midnight and 2:30am.
Five MRT shuttle buses — Orange 1 and 18, and Red 2, 21 and 28 — will also run through 2am.
Cars cannot travel on Jhonghua Road between Chengchin Road and Hsingfa Road between 2pm and midnight because of the New Year's Eve concert next to the Dream Mall.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY FLORA WANG
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