The Kaohsiung City government is discouraging people who intend to go to the city’s large-scale New Year’s Eve countdown party from taking the light rail system to or from the venue where the festivities will be held.
The city said in a statement Wednesday that its light rail system cannot handle the sudden passenger surges expected for the celebration and will have light rail trains stop but not open their doors at the two stations closest to the Dream Mall, the countdown party’s venue.
Beginning at 5 p.m. on Dec. 31, light rail trains will stop at the Dream Mall and Kaisyuan Jhonghua stations to briefly recharge their batteries but their doors will not open, preventing passengers from getting on or off.
According to the city, Kaohsiung’s light rail network is designed with a capacity of 250 people per run, which is capable of handling moving flows of passengers at big events such as the 2022 Taiwan Lantern Festival.
At the year-end countdown event with sudden surges of people, however, passengers wanting to use the light rail system would be forced to stand in line for a long time if the two stations remained in service, the city said.
The 2023 Kaohsiung countdown party will kick off at 7 p.m. Saturday at the Dream Mall, with singers, dancers and program hosts on hand to entertain visitors before and after a 180-second fireworks show that will ring in 2023, the city said.
Traffic controls will be in place in areas around the venue on Saturday, including a ban of vehicle traffic and parking in restricted zones, the statement said.
The best option for people to get to and from the venue will be to take the subway to Kaisyuan Station, the city said.
Subway trains will run every three minutes, and service will be extended until 2 a.m. on the morning of Jan. 1.
Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel