The Freeway Bureau yesterday announced a series of measures to facilitate freeway traffic during the Lunar New Year holiday, with the highest traffic volume expected on Feb. 7, the fourth day of the holiday.
Southbound freeway traffic would be heavy from Lunar New Year’s Eve to noon on Feb. 7, bureau Deputy Director-General Wu Mu-fu (吳木富) said.
Starting in the afternoon on the fourth day of the holiday, northbound traffic would become heavier, he said.
Photo: Wu Chun-feng, Taipei Times
The holiday lasts from Feb. 2 to Feb. 10, including the two weekends before and after the five-day holiday.
Southbound traffic would be heavy from Feb. 5 to Feb. 7, the bureau said, adding that the heaviest southbound traffic is expected on Feb. 6, with the traffic volume potentially reaching 71 million vehicle kilometers (MVK).
Feb. 6, the third day of the holiday, is traditionally when married couples visit the wife’s parents.
Northbound traffic is to be heavy from Feb. 7 to Feb. 9, with the heaviest traffic expected on Feb. 8, possibly reaching 76MVK, the bureau said.
The total traffic volume on Feb. 7 could top 140MVK, which would beat the record of 138MVK set on the third day of the 2017 Lunar New Year holiday, the bureau said.
A series of measures to facilitate freeway traffic is to be enforced, Wu said.
In addition to regular toll-free hours between 12am and 5am, a high-occupancy vehicle policy — which requires that each car carry at least three passengers on freeways — would be implemented from 1pm to 6pm on Feb. 7 and Feb. 8 on the northbound lanes of the National Sun Yat-Sen Freeway (Freeway No. 1) and Formosa Freeway (Freeway No. 3), Wu said.
On the Chiang Wei-Shui Freeway (Freeway No. 5), high-occupancy vehicle hours would be implemented on the southbound lanes between 7am and 12pm from Feb. 5 to Feb. 7, he said.
From Feb. 7 to Feb. 10, the high-occupancy hours on Freeway No. 5 would be enforced on the northbound lane from 2pm to 9pm, he added.
In related news, the Tourism Bureau is planning to expand the domestic travel subsidy program to include subsidies during low-travel seasons and weekdays, following a proposal President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) put forward at the end of last year, Tourism Bureau Director-General Chou Yung-hui (周永暉) said.
According to the bureau’s preliminary plan, the subsidies would be awarded to tourists traveling domestically between April and June, as well as between October and November, which are the nation’s off-peak travel seasons, Chou said, adding that the subsidies would be only part of the program.
“We hope to first talk to local government officials in a seminar on Jan. 23 to get some ideas. We will also spend two to three months talking to tourism operators nationwide about how to motivate people to travel during the off-peak seasons,” Chou said.
The agency would also evaluate the performance of the winter travel subsidy program, which ends at the end of this month, he added.
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) today condemned the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) after the Czech officials confirmed that Chinese agents had surveilled Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) during her visit to Prague in March last year. Czech Military Intelligence director Petr Bartovsky yesterday said that Chinese operatives had attempted to create the conditions to carry out a demonstrative incident involving Hsiao, going as far as to plan a collision with her car. Hsiao was vice president-elect at the time. The MAC said that it has requested an explanation and demanded a public apology from Beijing. The CCP has repeatedly ignored the desires
Many Chinese spouses required to submit proof of having renounced their Chinese household registration have either completed the process or provided affidavits ahead of the June 30 deadline, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said on Thursday. Of the 12,146 people required to submit the proof, 5,534 had done so as of Wednesday, MAC deputy head and spokesperson Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) said. Another 2,572 people who met conditions for exemption or deferral from submitting proof of deregistration — such as those with serious illnesses or injuries — have submitted affidavits instead, he said. “As long as individuals are willing to cooperate with the legal
The Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant’s license has expired and it cannot simply be restarted, the Executive Yuan said today, ahead of national debates on the nuclear power referendum. The No. 2 reactor at the Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant in Pingtung County was disconnected from the nation’s power grid and completely shut down on May 17, the day its license expired. The government would prioritize people’s safety and conduct necessary evaluations and checks if there is a need to extend the service life of the reactor, Executive Yuan spokeswoman Michelle Lee (李慧芝) told a news conference. Lee said that the referendum would read: “Do
The Ministry of Environment yesterday held a seminar in Taipei for experts from Taiwan and Japan to exchange their experiences on the designs and development of public toilets. Japan Toilet Association chairman Kohei Yamamoto said that he was impressed with the eco-toilet set up at Daan Forest Park, adding that Japan still faces issues regarding public restrooms despite the progress it made over the past decades. For example, an all-gender toilet was set up in Kabukicho in Tokyo’s Shinjuku District several years ago, but it caused a public backlash and was rebuilt into traditional men’s and women’s toilets, he said. Japan Toilet Association
RSS