In a bid to cut greenhouse gas emissions, all agencies and public schools under the Taipei City Government are to purchase only electric scooters from now on, the Taipei Environmental Protection Department said yesterday.
Department official Yan Ling-chen (顏伶珍) said Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) had signed off on the rule, making Taipei the first city in the nation to implement the rule.
Yan said that traditional scooters contribute to global warming and poor air quality, as each scooter emits an average of 415.9kg more carbon dioxide and 0.18kg more PM2.5 — pathogenic airborne particulates measuring up to 2.5 micrometers — than an electric scooter does in one year.
She said that although the number of registered electric scooters in Taipei has risen from 3,831 in 2013 to 5,713 last year, that still constitutes only a small proportion, 0.6 percent, of the scooters in the municipality.
She said that schools and agencies under the city government have a total of 2,258 scooters, of which only 44 are electric, adding up to a paltry 2 percent of all scooters used by public servants.
That indicates the government could step up its commitment to embracing environmentally friendly vehicles, she said, adding that she hopes that by gradually phasing out gasoline-powered scooters in the public sector, the private sector would then follow suit.
The city has 370 charging points at MRT stations, parking lots and stores selling electric scooters, and the number is expected to reach 400 by the end of this year, she said.
The Taipei Department of Budget, Accounting and Statistics said it had added electric scooters under the city’s procurement guidelines to be observed by all agencies for fiscal year 2017.
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