The transportation ministry has announced a new plan designed to ease heavy traffic in Taiwan’s longest tunnel.
The Hsuehshan Tunnel is nearly 13km long. It connects the Taipei Metro Area with Yilan County in northeastern Taiwan. Since the tunnel opened in 2006, Yilan has become a popular weekend getaway for Taipei residents. But the volume of traffic passing through can create long traffic jams.
The transportation ministry says that its plan is based on the model of 24-hour car rental lots that let users arrange rentals with an app. The ministry is already in talks with local car rental operators, and plans to set up a network covering transport hubs around the county. The ministry hopes the plan will encourage more visitors to choose public transport when traveling to Yilan, cutting down on tunnel traffic.
The ministry says it will roll out the plan over the Mid-Autumn Festival holiday in September. If the plan is a success, the ministry will expand the car rental program to cover other parts of Taiwan.