Taipei City’s business activities are abundant. Traffic is very heavy during the rush hour and weekends in Taipei City or between Taipei City and New Taipei City. Although Taipei City has the best public transport network in Taiwan, most citizens choose to ride motorcycles on account of convenience. As a result, to improve the ambient air quality, the mobile pollution must be controlled effectively.
In FY 2022, the Environmental Inspection Division, Department of Environmental Protection, Taipei City Government commissioned Envimac Technology and Consultants Corporation to implement the “Taipei City Plan for Strengthening Auditing of Air Pollutants Emitted by Mobile Pollution Sources (Motorcycles).” The Plan implementation period was from January 28, 2022, to December 31, 2022. The statistical data were as of December 31, 2022. The descriptions of the summary of results are as follows.
A. Irregular roadside inspections
The plan implementation completion rate was100%. 15,051 roadside inspections which contained 5,381 motorcycles that underwent periodic inspection had been performed. The failure roadside inspections were 741 and the failure rate was 4.9%. Cross-checking against the motorcycle periodic inspection database showed that 3,933 of the motorcycles in question or uninspected were subsequently brought in for re-inspection, giving a re-inspection rate of 73.6%.
B. Vehicle identification system analysis
This plan set vehicle identification system in outer bridges and main roads in Taipei City, take 1,903,448 pictures from 399,383 motorcycles, repetition rate was 79.0%. The ratio of motorcycles registered in Taipei City to registered in other counties or cities are 2:8. Most motorcycles are registered in other counties or cities.
C. Reminder notifications
A total of 374,730 second reminder notifications were sent to the owners of motorcycles registered in Taipei City that had not been brought in for inspection. The cumulative rate of completed inspection was 49.7%. According to law, after the second reminder notifications, if the motorcycle was still uninspected, double-registered-mail would be sent for the inspection within a definite time. Infraction Judgment and NT$500 Penalties would be enforced afterwards. A total of 18,200 first double-registered-mails were sent and the cumulative rate of completion of the inspection was 29.1%, while infraction judgment and penalties rate was 24.8%. Furthermore, second double-registered-mails were sent to the owners of uninspected (6 months overdue) motorcycles. In the worst-case, those motorcycle’s registrations will be cancelled according to law.
D. Inspection in air quality protection zones
As of 2022, Taipei city had announced to delimit the first and second air quality protection zone which contained 3 major bus stations, 6 tourist attraction, 3 waste incineration plant (Neihu, Beitou, Muzha) and Taipei International Airport. 64,174 motorcycles were inspected and 754 motorcycles were denounced. The uninspection rate in first and second air quality protection zone was 1.0% and 1.6%.
E. Periodic inspection completion rate
According to an announcement issued by the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA), the total number of motorcycles registered in Taipei City as of December 31, 2022 that were required to undergo periodic inspection was 654,730. The actual number of motorcycles that underwent periodic inspection was 521,971, representing a periodic inspection completion rate of 79.72%.
F. Noise inspections
The execution of noise inspection with the inspection team were from 9:30 A.M. to 11:30 A.M. and 1：30 P.M. to 4：00 P.M. on Wednesday and Saturday, and 10：00 P.M. to 12：00 A.M. on Friday and Saturday. As of December 31, 2022, 150 noise inspection sessions were executed.
G. Roadside inspections when poor air quality
Roadside inspections with the inspection team executed when the Air Quality index (AQI) was reached to 100 or probably being over 100. As of December 31, 2022, 10 roadside inspections sessions were executed.
