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The “TCPASS to Nantou” press conference held by both Nantou County Government and Taichung City Government took place at the JOJOZOO PARK (九九峰動物園) in Caotun, which is the border between Taichung and Nantou, on the 23rd. In the conference, Nantou County Mayor Hsu Shu-Hua and Taichung City Mayor Lu Shiow-Yen jointly announced the official extension of TCPASS (台中通) APP, a digital citizen service platform of Taichung, to Nantou. To implement the vision of "Only digital services, no distance bothered," it provides a variety of government digital services for both Taichung and Nantou citizens to break regional restrictions and create a smart living circle for both citizens.

The press conference kicked off with the wonderful dance of the Nantou Dance Group. After that, Lin Gu-Long, Director of Digital Governance Bureau of Taichung City Government, together with Chiu Shao-Wei, Head of Department of Planning of Nantou County Government, introduced the features of TCPASS, which enables Nantou citizens to apply for seal certificate, borrow books from libraries in both regions, check  and pay unpaid payments and parking fees, check bus status, learn other life information, etc. In the other hand, attendees also included Legislator Ma Wen-Chun, Nantou County Councilor Lin Ju-Yang, Taichung City Councilors Lin Pi-Hsiu, Chiu, Ai-Shan and Liu Shih-Chou, and administrative teams of both local governments.

Hsu said that Nantou and Taichung have been sharing a common living circle. Therefore, both local governments collaborated to create a smart living circle to break the boundary between them and provide residents with more convenient and smarter public services. At the beginning of 2024, both sides worked together to recruit stores in Nantou for appointed stores of TCPASS. So far, the recruits in Nantou reached over 100 stores. This collaboration jumps out of the box of administrative regions to integrate resources. Based on the concept of the shared smart living circle, Taichung and Nantou band together to expand resources to build a smart city, aiming to benefit more citizens.

In the other hand, Lu said that digital literacy is urban competitiveness. Taichung City Government is a first local government in Taiwan to set a Digital Governance Bureau to mainly promote smart city construction. Starting from January 1st of 2025, it will be renamed as the DIGITAL AFFAIRS BUREAU of Taichung City Government and will be more actively involved in smart city related affairs, digital innovation and interdisciplinary collaboration. Since Nantou County is a long-term partner in the Central Taiwan Regional Governance Platform, resource sharing and policy linkage are implemented to address the needs of citizens commuting between Taichung and Nantou. Up to now, the APP reached 2.77 million downloads. Come use the APP.

This collaboration project is an opportunity for digital regional integration, expecting to apply to Miaoli, Changhua, Yunlin, Hsinchu, Chiayi and other counties and cities. Based on a common living circle, the expanded TCPASS will connect the counties and cities in central Taiwan in many ways in the future, creating a close and vibrant living circle.