Sun Moon Lake is not only one of the most famous national scenic areas in Taiwan, but it is also one of the most popular tourist attractions attracting numerous domestic and foreign tourists every year. However the large number of tourists and private cars in the Sun Moon Lake National Scenic Area has caused serious traffic congestion and affected the environment and air quality in the area. The i3 Travel Project which represents ‘innovative, intelligent and interesting’ is proposed for solving these problems; the main ideas are to introduce ITS, ICT and low-carbon environmental protection in providing high-quality transport services in the scenic areas. Also, the new “Park & Travel” patterns of tourism promoted in Sun Moon Lake combines 4 aspects: “public transportation”, “low-carbon vehicle”, “traffic management” and “intelligent tourism” to plan and implement the related strategies of low-carbon tourism and intelligent transportation. By providing real-time Location-Based Service (LBS) in traffic and travel information services, as well as high-quality low-carbon seamless public transportation, visitors are encouraged to take public transportation directly into the Lake District, or first park their private vehicle at the Sun Moon Lake area surroundings and then change to low-carbon transport in order to reduce the inflow of private transport in the Sun Moon Lake area, thereby improving the traffic problems in the Sun Moon Lake National Scenic Area.
The i3 Travel Project is planned and led by the Institute of Transportation, MOTC, integrating the resources of central authorities (such as the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Environmental Protection Agency), and local government (Nantou County Government) to promote the implementation of the aforementioned four strategies. In addition, this project also encourages the participation of the private sector, and has obtained great support and nearly USD$ 6.7 million investment from Taiwanese high-tech companies, including: Hotai Motors (TOYOTA agents), Industrial Technology Research Institute, Easycard Corporation, ASUS, Chunghwa Telecom, etc.
Effective interdisciplinary collaboration and resources and technology integration between the public and private sectors not only effectively reduce the amount of governmental investment, but also successfully promote the development of related industries, create economic benefits, and a triple-win situation among the public sector, private sector and the people.
Because of the promotion and implementation of this project, Sun Moon Lake National Scenic Area has become the demonstration area for the country’s “Low Carbon Tourism, Smart Travel” project, and also gained a lot of media coverage and public recognition. Therefore several strategies of this project are currently replicated and used by other scenic areas and cities, e.g.:
– Low-carbon tourism area: Alishan, Kenting
– Electronic travel package: Kaohsiung and Yilan
– Intelligent traffic management: Taichung, Yilan
– Car Sharing: Hotai Leasing Corporation
In the early stages of project planning, the Sun Moon Lake National Scenic Area Administration (local authority) invited local businesses and opinion leaders to a coordination meeting to exchange views and understand the needs of local residents through public meetings, which are very helpful for the follow-up promotion and implementation of this project. In addition, in the project, we have also collected internet information (such as news stories, blogs and facebook) to analyze the opinions of visitors with big data techniques, and are ready to respond to the opinions, or adjust the service strategy accordingly.
There are 3 significant differences of this project in comparison with similar projects:
1. The interdisciplinary integration and cooperation: This project integrates not only resources of governmental transportation, economic and environmental units, but also the technology and resources of several private companies.
2. Having multiple goals and multiple strategies at the same time: The main purpose of this project is to improve the traffic problem in Sun Moon Lake Scenic Area, but it also promotes other policy objectives in the meantime, such as local air quality improvement, promotion of local high-quality businesses and electric car-sharing services.
3. Sustainable management and services: In the early stages of project planning, the issues of sustainable management and rendering ofall additional services and equipment were already considered. Although the subsidy of government resources for this project has been terminated, all the facilities and services of the project are still continuously in normal operation.
Emissions Calculations Description
Various strategies of the i3 travel project have been successfully promoted and implemented, and the effectiveness of project implementation is as follows:
1. In Sun Moon Lake, we have established a comprehensive Low-Carbon Transport System, and the tourists can use the connections among trails, bicycles, cable cars, electric vehicles, electric buses and electric boats to enjoy a region-wide low-carbon tour in Sun Moon Lake.
2. In the first year in which the electric car sharing service was provided, there were more than 23,000 passengers (90% were originally private vehicle users) having experienced the service, and about 300,000 km was travelled which equals to reducing 57 tons of CO2 emission in the Sun Moon Lake area. Follow the import of electric vehicles unmanned hire service, the electric vehicle sharing services could reduce CO2 emissions by 96 metric tons each year.
3. For the traffic management strategy, during the Sun Moon Lake International Fireworks and Music Festival, this project conducted 2 operations: “traffic control and transit (shuttle bus) program” and “CMS Information Dissemination Platform for Seamless Communication Cross Agencies”. Based on the traffic change on different dates and the estimated carbon reduction benefits, this measure can effectively reduce 6,300 kg of carbon emissions.
Various services continue to be promoted. It is estimated that beginning in 2020, CO2 emissions could be reduced by approximately 1,340 metric tons each year.