Taipei subsidy to help phase out old motorbikes

The Taipei city government announced a subsidy program to help phase out two-stroke motorcycles more than seven years old, to reduce air pollution in the northern Taiwan metropolis. The city government’s Department of Environmental Protection said in a news release that it will give a cash subsidy of NT$1,500 (US$46.73) to each of the first 5,000 owners of such motorcycles who agree to turn in their old vehicles to licensed factories for recycling by the end of this year. City environmental officials said that Taipei at present has 1.07 million motorcycles, of which 190,000 are two-stroke motorcycles over seven years old. (August 18, 2008)