Taichung House Number Plates Cause Headaches 台中縣市合併11年 原縣區仍可見舊式門牌

Over 10 years have passed since the merger of Taichung City and Taichung County. However, old-style house number plates can still be seen in many parts of the city that used to be part of Taichung County.

This is Dongrong Road in Taichung's Dali District. The merger of Taichung City and Taichung County took place over a decade ago, but some old-style house number plates dating back to 20 years ago can still be seen in the district.

Homeowner: "This has been here since 1995, which is over 20 years ago." 

The merger took place 11 years ago. In many districts that were previously part of Taichung County, there are many pre-merger house number plates. In Dali District, many of the plates bear the words "Dali City" and some newer ones don't even include an administrative district. Local borough chiefs say old-style plates have been around for over 20 years, and the city government is taking too long to replace them.

Hung Tzu-yuan, Chief, Zhangrong Borough, Dali District, Taichung City: “Perhaps this homeowner here has the correct style. However, the neighbor has an incorrect style. Some of the older ones may have "Dali Village." Some have "Dali City" and some have "Dali District." The city government needs to address this issue.”

Many residents say there should be a uniform format. The city's Civil Affairs Bureau said there were 1.12 million house number plates that needed to be replaced following the merger, and the total budget was over NT$100 million. So far, it has replaced 540,000 plates, and 580,000 are awaiting replacement.

Voice of Wu Shih-wei, Director, Taichung City Civil Affairs Bureau: “Every year, we budget NT$5 million to replace 50,000 plates. After the city and county merged, districts and boroughs may have also been merged, so we're using a very deliberate process to tackle this."

The city government said money is allocated every year towards plate replacement. It is only enough to replace 50,000 a year, resulting in this chaotic situation. It will speed up the process if it has the money.
 

台中市大里區的東榮路車水馬龍，不過台中縣市都已合併多年，但卻還是看得見20多年前的門牌。

屋主表示:「這塊放了差不多，將近84年到現在，84年到現在的話，將近20幾年了。」

台中縣市合併升格已經有11年，但是在原台中縣區的豐原、海線和屯區等地區，有很多門牌還是沒有整併。像是在大里區，不少都還維持升格前的大里市字樣，有的雖然是新門牌，卻連行政區都沒有。當地里長表示，舊式門牌都有20年以上歷史，縣市合併後市府更換的速度，還是不夠快。

台中市大里區長榮里里長洪資源表示:「搞不好這邊 這戶是正確的標準的，可是隔壁那戶就不標準，還是以前舊的，可能有鄉啦，有市又有區，這問題可能要相關單位來處理了。」

不少民眾認為應該統一格式，才能避免困擾。而台中市民政局表示，縣市合併當時，需要更換門牌數有112萬面，總預算超過一億。目前已經更換了54萬面，全市還有58萬面需要更新。

台中市民政局長吳世瑋表示:「我們每年會編500萬元，處理5萬面的門牌，縣市雖然合併，但各個區域、鄰，都可能發生整併，所以其實是用穩紮穩打的方式來做。」

吳世瑋解釋，預算採逐年編列，更新作業只能每年更換五萬面，才會造成這樣新舊並陳的現象，只要預算一到位，就會盡快更換。