Millions of Taiwanese travelers are on the road, heading back to their hometowns to celebrate the Lunar New Year or going on vacation for the extended New Year’s break.
Wednesday saw the arrival of Chinese New Year’s Eve, the official beginning of the New Year’s break for many. The National Freeway Bureau reports that traffic has been generally smooth apart from a few traffic jams Wednesday morning. The bureau expects that roughly 2.3 million cars will have travelled on Taiwan’s highways by the end of the day. That’s a 20% increase in volume over the daily average.
Meanwhile, Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport has seen a record number of travelers both entering and leaving the country. The airport served nearly 100,000 travelers Wednesday.
On Wednesday, Wen Yung-sung, Senior Vice President of the company that runs the airport, said that this year will see a substantially higher number of travelers passing through Taoyuan. Wen said that this is because this year’s Lunar New Year holiday falls close to 228 Peace Memorial Day, and many workers have decided to take a long vacation.
The Taiwan Railways Administration and the Taiwan High Speed Rail have also increased the frequency of train services in order to accommodate the New Year’s rush. The Taiwan Railways Administration will run an additional 479 services over the holiday period, increasing capacity by 16%.