Due to the 10-day long Lunar New Year break this year, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications said the high volume of passenger cars will be set southbound for the first two days of the vacation.
This year's Lunar New Year vacation is 10 days long. The Ministry of Transportation and Communications said passenger cars will be primarily southbound on Jan. 20, the first day of the vacation, and Jan. 22 to 23. The period from Jan. 24 to 25 is when the highest number of tour buses will be seen. As the vacation is fairly long, there will be passenger cars returning north starting from the afternoon of Jan. 25 until Jan. 28. A section of the Suhua Highway damaged by a landslide has been repaired, and there won't be any traffic controls over the holiday.
Chen Wen-juei, Director, Directorate General of Highways: “The Daqingshui section will be completely open to traffic without any barriers over the Lunar New Year, so there shouldn't be any congestion. I think the traffic flow will be comparable to previous years.”
Wang Kwo-tsai, Transportation and Communications Minister: “The ultimate goal was to give Hualien and Taitung people a safe and sound way to get home. That's what is most important.”
The pandemic situation is improving, and people are eager to start traveling again. Taoyuan International Airport Corporation says the peak travel days are expected to be the last two days of the vacation, which are Jan. 28 and 29. The passenger volume on Jan. 28 could hit 90,000, which will be the highest level since February 2020. The airport has set an annual goal of 20 million passengers.
Lin Kuo-shian, Acting Chairperson, Taoyuan Int'l Airport Corp.: “It will start on Jan. 19, when there will be 84,000 people. It will climb and reach the highest level of 94,000 on the seventh day of the Lunar New Year. It will be 92,000 on the eighth day. Between Jan. 19 and 30, there will be 988,000 people entering and exiting, so the total for the month of January will be close to two million.”
There are rumors that the Cabinet reshuffle will see Transportation and Communications Minister Wang Kwo-tsai assigned to China Airlines as the chairperson, with former Keelung Mayor Lin Yu-chang taking over as minister. Wang said no one has told him anything, and he will continue completing his work as minister.
今年過年連假長達10天，交通部預估，南向返鄉車潮，在連假第一天1月20日，以及初一初二，也就是22至23日陸續出現，初三初四則是湧現觀光出遊車潮，由於假期較長，預計將從初四下午到初七，陸續出現較為分散的北返車潮，而蘇花公路隧道搶修工程，春節「不管制」影響不大。
公路總局局長陳文瑞說：「大清水路段的話，因為在春節期間它是完全開放通行並沒有阻礙，所以在這個路段並沒有相關的阻塞，原有的車流部分，我想就是跟以往的模式一樣。」
交通部長王國材說：「最終還是希望給花東一條安全平安回家的路，這是最重要的一個部分。」
疫情趨緩，各國新年迎來爆發性旅遊潮，桃機公司預估連假出入境高峰，將會落在收假前兩日，1月28日當天可能達到九萬人次，是2020年2月以來新高，出入境人數明顯復甦，今年桃機將朝年旅客量2000萬目標邁進。
民航局長暨桃機代理董事長林國顯說：「大概1月19號開始8萬4000人，一直到最高是初七，9萬4000人，初八是9萬2000人，所以大概1月19號到1月30號，有98萬8000多個旅客進出，所以基本上1月會有接近200萬人進出。」
至於備受關注的內閣改組問題，傳出王國材將轉任華航公司董事長，交通部長由前基隆市長林右昌接任，王國材回應，目前沒有收到府院任何通知，他的興趣是交通改革，仍會做好每一天部長的工作。
