Senior Citizen Love Card of Taichung City, which has already offered a monthly subsidy of NT$1000 for the elderly, the disabled people and indigenous people to ride public bus free of charge, starts to include EasyCard functions now. In collaboration with EasyCard Company, the "Senior Citizen Love Card" can be used to buy stuffs at any convenience stores designated by EasyCard Company. Moreover, newly added are two "quick service" centers, where Senior Citizen Love Card can be applied and taken home immediately. Anyone whose birthday happens to fall in the month and the next month is given a coupon to get a birthday cake from 85°C Bakery Cafe.

Taichung City Government held a press conference for the launch of “Senior Citizen Love and Easy Card” at the Taiwan Boulevard Municipal Building on February 21, 2014. Present at the event were Deputy Mayor Tsai Bing-kun (蔡炳坤); Lin Liang-tai (林良泰), Director-general of Transportation Bureau; Wang Chiu-tung (王秋冬), Director-general of Civil Affairs Bureau; Liao Su-ling (廖素玲), Deputy Director-general of Social Affairs Bureau; City Councilman Liu Shi-chou (劉士州); and Zheng You-qin (鄭有欽), Present of EasyCard Company. Cheung Tsing (長青), an entertainer who has been living in Taichung for more than 20 years, represented the elderly and showed how to apply for “Senior Citizen Love and Easy Card”.

Deputy Mayor Tsai Bing-kun said, “Senior Citizen Love Card has been launched since 2003, when Mayor Jason Hu took office. The card subsidizes the bus fare by NT$1000 per month for the elderly over 65 years of age, the disabled people, and the indigenous people aged 55 or over (NT$1500 instead of NT$1000), if they have domiciled in Taichung City for more than six months. The card can be used to take a bus tour in five counties and cities in central Taiwan (namely Miaoli County, Taichung City, Changhua County, Nantou County, and Yunlin County). There are 17 passenger transport companies taking part in this program, providing services at more than 350 bus routes. Taichung City Government has set aside NT$150 million for the program, which will benefit about 360,000 citizens.”

Deputy Mayor Tsai also said, “As Taichung City also offers the 8-km free bus ride program, most of our citizens do not use up their monthly quota of NT$1,000. The Easy Card can be used to ride Taipei MRT lines. Thus, we are studying the feasibility to extend the 8 km free ride program to include the Taipei MRT lines.”

Director-general Lin reminded our citizens that the monthly allowance of NT$1000 automatically deposited into “Senior Citizen Love and Easy Card” can be only used for bus ride. “If you want to buy stuffs from convenience stores, you must make another deposit. In addition, if you have used up the monthly allowance of NT$1000, the excess bus fare will be automatically deducted from your debit card. If your debit card shows a ‘negative’ amount, please have it refilled at the four major convenience stores or the EasyCard service stations at once; otherwise, the NT$1,000 monthly allowance cannot be deposited into your card in the next month,” added Director-general Lin.

It took about a week to apply for a “Senior Citizen Love Card” from the District Office in the past. Now in pilot test are two "quick service" centers (Fengyuan Joint Service Center and Nantun District Office), where you apply for the card and get it immediately if you present your own identity card and two passport size photos. The first-time applicant whose birthday falls in the month or the next month is given a birthday-cake coupon of 85°C Bakery Café. Such "quick service" service is expected to promote to each of the 29 district offices in Taichung City. You can continue to use the Taiwan EasyGo cards, but you can replace it by EasyCard to enjoy the functions offered by convenience stores.

Zheng You-qin, Present of EasyCard Company, said that he is deeply connected with Taichung City because his grandmother lives in Qinshui and two sisters are married to Taichung. “Taichung is a happy city to me,” added Zheng.

EasyCard has been providing service for small-amount consumption in Taichung since 2010. It is estimated that 72% of bus riders in Taichung City have been using EasyCard for transportation. It is planned to establish this year 5 service stations for cash refill and balance inquiries, namely the Fengyuan Joint Service Center, Ubus Chong Kong Station, Ubus Chaoma Station, Ubus Taichung Railway Station, and Ubus Taichung Headquarters.