The Tourism Bureau and the Taoyuan City Government have extended the opening hours of the Taiwan Lantern Festival in order to manage large numbers of visitors.
More than 3.69 million people showed up at the Taiwan Lantern Festival in Taoyuan on Sunday, the highest turnout in the festival’s 27-year history. The crowd eventually managed to leave by one o’clock the next morning thanks to efforts to dispatch additional shuttle buses.
Chang Chun-han, the head of Taoyuan City’s Department of Public Information, said that the city has taken measures to manage crowds in the next few days.
“We have taken several measures [to manage today’s crowds] based on yesterday’s experience. We have spoken with the tourism bureau and extended the festival’s opening hours to midnight. Secondly, we have dispatched 100 additional shuttle buses since this morning. Thirdly, we’ve dispatched 1,300 additional police officers to ensure that shuttle buses and personal vehicles are directed to different routes," said Chang.
Taoyuan high speed rail station has also extended its hours in order to cope with the crowds.