Department of Transportation

To relieve the possible traffic congestion due to traffic control for the Tomb-Sweeping Day, the Capital Bus, Taipei Bus and Metropolitan Transport Corporation provided free bus service on March 19, 20, 26, 27, and April 2 to 5, 2016 for a total of 8 days. The free bus service was offered on 5 bus routes including Muzha Line, Nankang Line, Military Cemetery Line, Chungde Line and Yangmingshan Line. Further details are shown below:
(1) Muzha Line: Exit 2 of the MRT Taipei Zoo Station – Wanfu Bridge – Fude Columbarium. Buses operated on this line were all low-floor.
(2) Nankang Line: Nankang Military Cemetery – Fude Public Cemetery Office – Fude Columbarium. Operated on this line were low-floor buses. To access to this service, simply get off at the MRT Kunyang Station and get on buses 270, Xiao 12 and BL 25; alternatively, get off at the MRT Nankang Exhibition Hall, walk to the Nankang Exhibition Hall Stop on Academia Road Section 1 to get on buses 205, 620 and 645 bound for China University of Science and Technology.
(3) Military Cemetery Line: Nankang Military Cemetery – Zhungling Cemetery. The buses departed from the China University of Science and Technology. To access to the bus service, people could get off at the MRT Kunyang Station and get on Bus 270, Bus Xiao 12 and Bus BL 25; alternatively, get off at the MRT Nankang Exhibition Hall, walk to the Nankang Exhibition Hall Bus Stop on Academia Road Section 1 for buses 205, 620 and 645 bound for the China University of Science and Technology.
(4) Chungde Line: MRT Linguang Station – Chungde Street – Fude Public Cemetery Office. The narrowness of the Chungde Street was difficult for large vehicles to enter so operated on this line were middle size buses, which carry fewer passengers. To avoid longer waiting or crowding on the buses, people were advised to travel on Muza Line from the MRT Taipei Zoo Station, transfer to Nankang Line from the Fude Columbarium, and transfer to Chungde Line from the Fude Public Cemetery Office.
(5) Yangmingshan Line: Longfeng Valley Tourist Center – Yangmingshan Columbarium. Buses departed from the Chunxu Occupational School. To go to this school, people could either get on Bus 612 at the MRT Jiantan Station or MRT Shilin Station, or Buses 128, 508 (including 508 Zone), 535, 536 and Xiao 8 at the MRT Shipai Station, or Buses 230, Xiao 7 and Xiao 25 at the MRT Beitou Station.
(6) The time interval of buses on the Military Cemetery Line was 20-30 minutes. Buses on other bus lines for Tomb-Sweeping Day were dispatched every 3-5 minutes. The final bus on various bus lines departed at 17:00. People were reminded to pay attention to the bus schedule. Please refer to the attachment 1 for relevant information and bus routes, and attachment 2 for bus transfer information.
Waiting pavilions were set up at various Tomb-Sweeping Day bus lines. People could also seek help from service centers at Fude Columbarium, Fude Public Cemetery and Yangmingshan Columbarium such as broadcasting, consultation, looking for families and friends, child care, tea service, cloakroom service, free loan of tomb-sweeping tools and umbrella etc. Free coffee was specifically provided at the service centers on March 19 and 20 from 8:30am to 3:30pm.
According to previous experience in past years, the Taipei Mortuary Services Office predicted that the tomb sweeping crowds would reach the climax on March 26 and 27. The Taipei Public Transportation Office urged the public to avoid going tomb sweeping on these days, and choose to travel with public transportation rather than private vehicles. This could relieve the possible impact to the traffic around cemeteries and columbariums. Before going out, people could look up bus schedule and estimated arrival time on the website, “Taipei eBus” (http://ebus.gov.taipei). The Office would like to remind that bus fare was to be charged as usual except the free bus service for Tomb-Sweeping Day.
Special minibus service was also available for people with disabilities and those at age 70 and beyond. To access to this free service, people could contact bus company staff at where the tomb-sweeping buses depart. On March 21 to 25, and March 28 to April 1 for a total of 10 days, buses were operating for people who wanted to go tomb sweeping, and one section fare was to be charged; the Bus 112 bound for the Fude Columbarium departed from the MRT Taipei Zoo Station. Operating hour was between 8:00 and 17:00, and the bus departed from the MRT Taipei Zoo Station every 30 minutes.
For information about traffic control and transportation during the period of Tomb-Sweeping Day, please visit the website of the Department of Transportation of Taipei City Government (http://www.dot.taipei.gov.tw/), and the website of the Taipei Public Transportation Office (http://www.pto.taipei.gov.tw/).

2016-03-17