Taipei to set up ‘air quality management zones’NEW STANDARDS: The policy should slash PM2.5 by 27.3 tonnes per year, down 4.5 percent from current levels, the Taipei Department of Environmental Protection saidBy Tsai Ssu-pei and Dennis Xie / Staff reporter, with staff writerTaipei is to designate three transportation hubs and six tourist hotspots as “Phase One Air Quality Management Zones,” with the types of vehicles allowed to enter them restricted, the Taipei Department of Environmental Protection said in a news release yesterday. Vehicle owners and drivers failing to meet emission standards in those zones would be subject to fines from next year, the agency added. Photo: Kuo An-chia, Taipei TimesScooters failing to undergo the required regular inspections would also lose access to the zones, the agency added. The air quality management zones would be Taipei City Hall Bus Station, Taipei Bus Station and Nangang Bus Station, as well as Yangmingshan National Park, the National Palace Museum, Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall, Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall, the National Revolutionary Martyrs’ Shrine and Taipei 101, it said. Small diesel vehicles would not be included in the regulations, she said, citing lower emissions and the difficulty of enforcement, as inspectors cannot distinguish diesel vehicles from gasoline vehicles.

Source: Taipei Times July 09, 2020 15:56 UTC