Do you still havean old two-stroke motorcycle at home? Environmental Protection Bureau (EPB) of Taichung City Government teaches you how to replaceitand apply for subsidies. On top of the subsidy program by the Environmental Protection Administration, Taiwan,the EPB offers Taichung citizens additional grants for their scrapping or replacing two-stroke motorcycles.Within the subsidy application period, those qualified citizens who scrap and recycle their two-stroke motorcycles can apply for a grant of NT$1,500 and a Taiwn Easy Go card for the 8-km-free-ride on city buses, while those who replace their two-stroke motorcycles by electric vehicles can obtain a grant ranging from NT$6,500 to NT$23,000 fromthe relevant government units. The EPB said the launch of such a subsidy program is to let Taichung citizens feel the benefit of Taichung City being upgraded to a special municipality. For more information about the subsidies, please contact the Environmental Protection Bureau by hotline 04 -22201661 or visit the website of Environmental Protection Bureau at http://epb.taichung.gov.tw.
Environmental Protection Bureau reminds the public to check if they are qualified for the subsidy program provided by the city government. It is required that the two-stroke motorcycles must be registered at Taichung City, delivered out of works before December 31, 2003 (inclusive),and recorded for exhaust inspection in the year or the previous year when the motorcycle bodywork is recycled or the vehicle registration is scrapped (Information of motorcycle types and periodic inspection records can be obtained from the website of the Environmental Protection Administration, Taiwan, at http://www.motorim.org.tw/). The most important of all is that within the subsidy application period, the vehicle registration must be cancelled at the highway supervisory authority and the bodywork of a motorcycle must be recycled by a vehicle recycler recognized by the Environmental Protection Administration, Taiwan. It is also important that the newly purchased electric vehicle must be among those TES-type models certified by the Industrial Development Bureau of the Ministry of Economic Affairs (For more details, please visit the project website of Development and Promotion of Electric Motorcycle Industry of the Industrial Development Bureau of the Ministry of Economic Affairs at http://proj.moeaidb.gov.tw/lev/scooter/index.html) while the electric bicycles and electric (auxiliary) bikes must be among those models approved for grants by the Environmental Protection Administration, Taiwan (For more information about thegrants to low-pollution vehicles, please visit the website of the Environmental Protection Administration, Taiwan, at http://mobile.epa.gov.tw/LowPoll/index.aspx).
Liu Bang-yu(劉邦裕), Director-general of Environmental Protection Bureau, said that the number of motorcycles and cars in Taichung City has already reached 1.77 million. “It is imperative that we cutthe number of old vehicles to reduce air pollution by vehicle emissions. People are encouraged to shift to those transport modes emitting less pollutant and even abandon private vehicles and take public transportation. As you know, by riding an electric vehicle, you can save money on commodity tax, vehicle license tax, and fuel tax because you do not pollute the air. The public transportation system is good for those fixed-point and fixed-distance commuters. We are buildinga complete transport network in which there will be the MRT, the BRT and the existing city bus systems. We hope to reach the goal to build up a low-carbon green transportation system in Taichung City. Energy saving and carbon reduction is not a slogan. It is something we canand must do in everyday life.We should not sit here but take action now,” added Director-general Liu.
For more details about the subsidy program, please visit the official website of Environmental Protection Bureau at http://www.epb.taichung.gov.tw. For subsidy application, the qualified applicants can also download the application form from the Form Download Zone. If you want to contact the Air Quality and Noise Control Division of Environmental Protection Bureau, please call Tel: 04-22201661.