Starting yesterday, motorists who have unpaid freeway tolls of less than NT$30,000 and have received a notice from the Administrative Enforcement Agency can pay them at convenience stores, the Freeway Bureau said on Tuesday.
When drivers fail to pay freeway tolls after being notified by the bureau and fined, their cases are handed over to the Ministry of Justice’s Administrative Enforcement Agency, the bureau said.
Ninety-eight percent of the agency’s cases involve less than NT$20,000 in unpaid tolls, the bureau said.
Photo: Cheng Wei-chi, Taipei Times
About 6,500 drivers with less than NT$20,000 in tolls have paid at convenience stores since 2019, when it was first allowed, the bureau said.
Starting yesterday, the amount was raised to NT$30,000, with drivers able to pay at 7-Eleven, FamilyMart, Hi-Life, OK Mart and Simple Mart stores.
People with unpaid tolls of more than NT$30,000 must still pay at a bureau or agency office, it said, adding that a post office money order or a bank wire can also be used.
HOLIDAY WEEKEND
In other news, during the Mid-Autumn Festival long weekend, freeways are to be toll-free from 12am to 5am on Sept. 18 to Sept. 20, as well as from 12am to 10am on Sept. 21, the bureau said.
Freeways are expected to be congested during the holiday, as it is a four-day weekend and the nation’s COVID-19 alert was downgraded, it said.
Measures would be implemented to regulate the traffic on freeways, it added.
During the holiday, drivers should expect congestion at freeway interchanges in northern and central Taiwan, as well as on the Chiang Wei-shui Memorial Freeway (Freeway No. 5), as traffic volume is likely to be nearly double that of typical weekday traffic, the bureau said.
Regulatory measures are subject to change, depending on the COVID-19 situation, it added.
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