So now someone is going to replace their scooter ride to and from the 7-11 with a walk lugging a battery for charging to and from the 7-11 (or at least one way lugging the battery and one way walking their unpowered scooter)? Yeah, I’m afraid this would be a show stopper for many. You’re going to need to be able to charge the batteries close to home. You may also need to have charging stations available at work as well so that you can charge your vehicle will you work. Probably doable but hardly simple.[/quote]
You have a good point. It wouldn’t make a whole lot of sense to operate e-scooters this way. It would be better if you could drop your expired battery off and walk out with an already charged one. Something like the way domestic gas cylinders work. There’s no reason why e-scooter batteries shouldn’t be standardized in the same way that existing scooter and car batteries are.
About how long does it take to “fill 'er up” at one of the charging stations? It has to compete with people who spend 80 seconds filling their scooters with gas.
And which is louder, riding on the MRT or riding on a scooter? I think it’s close.
I use both, and I know that a scooter saves me over half an hour per day over the MRT. That’s time I can spend with my two lovely girls before they go to bed. If your job means you might go between a few locations during the day, you might save yourself more than that. The difference in cost is negligible for me, but I’m sure it matters to many.
I also think the freedom that a scooter gives you is underestimated by some non-scooterers. You can (but I don’t) have a drink and a smoke as you drive along, but you can’t on the MRT; you can bring a fair bit of shopping home on a scooter, and when you want to get up into the mountains or go off the grid, you’ve got your own wheels.
Electric vehicles should be cheaper to run than gas ones. Once they are convenient, I can imagine the masses changing over. I’ve seen photos of electric cars from about 100 years ago. I’ve seen electric motorcycles that run a 8.9 second quarter mile. If they put half the effort into electric that they’ve put into internal combustion, we’ll be silently scootering around in no time.
have you heard of a “g-mask” ? it is supposed to help with street pollution. gflowmask.com/ I am going to get one, I just heard about it from a colleague. . Where I’m from, (and I’m sure is the case for a lot of expats here) the streets are a lot bigger, we drive faster, and we drive longer distances. That means scooters are basically suicide. In Taiwan I can see the practicality, at least from an individual transportation perspective. Outside of Taipei and Kaohsiong, public transportation is pretty skint. Also, the streets here are quite small, and good parking is pretty hard to come by as well.
As you guys mentioned, if Taiwan would clamp down on these scooters that emit huge clouds of blue/black smoke, it would make everyone’s life better in the long run. Electric scooters would be good too, but I heard you can’t get much power out of them? Someone must know more about that than I…
HAHA you have a garage!! There’s no way I’m going to carry that big ass battery down my street then up 4 flights of stairs every time I go home.
If only there were some kind of substance that I could refuel my vehicle with very conveniently when it’s low…
Hydrogen is picking up a little in the states (mostly in California). What if Taiwan were to take the same approach? It would definitely be possible here, I think. I wouldn’t mind driving a little out of my way (like that would even be far in Taipei) to a hydrogen station. There are enough scooters to make it a possibility. If there were a company that could open little hydrogen stations only for motorcycles, and sell conversion kits, while the govt pressured scooter makers into using hydrogen…that would be the solution to pollution problems! Not traffic…but at least pollution! I don’t know anything about the costs involved in this, but it’s a nice idea.[/quote]
Sorry but this really shows you have no clue about transport issues. Hydrogen is a fuel source that is decades from becoming common, in fact there are probably a handful of hydrogen stations in the whole state of California and to make hydrogen you have to electrolyse water (which needs energy) or you have to split it off natural gas or another source i.e. it takes energy to make it. Now if you could get solar fields to somehow be able to produce hydrogen and store that effectively we would be on a winner, but again it is probably decades away. A much better and cleaner solution exists called natural gas or LPG or even cleaner gasoline with scooters with catalytic converters or electric bikes.
So now someone is going to replace their scooter ride to and from the 7-11 with a walk lugging a battery for charging to and from the 7-11 (or at least one way lugging the battery and one way walking their unpowered scooter)? Yeah, I’m afraid this would be a show stopper for many. You’re going to need to be able to charge the batteries close to home. You may also need to have charging stations available at work as well so that you can charge your vehicle will you work. Probably doable but hardly simple.[/quote]
You have a good point. It wouldn’t make a whole lot of sense to operate e-scooters this way. It would be better if you could drop your expired battery off and walk out with an already charged one. Something like the way domestic gas cylinders work. There’s no reason why e-scooter batteries shouldn’t be standardized in the same way that existing scooter and car batteries are.[/quote]
The fact is that more people would walk to 7-11 rather than drive a scooter to it since 7-11s are, literally, everywhere!
So now someone is going to replace their scooter ride to and from the 7-11 with a walk lugging a battery for charging to and from the 7-11 (or at least one way lugging the battery and one way walking their unpowered scooter)? Yeah, I’m afraid this would be a show stopper for many. You’re going to need to be able to charge the batteries close to home. You may also need to have charging stations available at work as well so that you can charge your vehicle will you work. Probably doable but hardly simple.[/quote]
You have a good point. It wouldn’t make a whole lot of sense to operate e-scooters this way. It would be better if you could drop your expired battery off and walk out with an already charged one. Something like the way domestic gas cylinders work. There’s no reason why e-scooter batteries shouldn’t be standardized in the same way that existing scooter and car batteries are.[/quote]
The fact is that more people would walk to 7-11 rather than drive a scooter to it since 7-11s are, literally, everywhere![/quote]
HH: Before I lived here I would have agreed with you completely but, time and time again I’ve seen someone go down to the garage get their scooter and drive to our local 7-11 which is maybe 100 meters from the building. At times, they actually of come back to the building before I’m done getting ready to go out on my scooter. I just smile and shake my head at them. I wish it was possible to ban that behaviour and/or punish it severly.
Some of my inlaws took the scooter to the 7-11 everytime. I managed to shame them into walking.
Well you guys are welcome to abandon your own scooter riding and start a protest movement against the masses who use them as a daily form of transportation. I am sure you will have a good time of it.
As taxpayers and residents we have every right to make our policy choices known. And some of us do get to make our opinions known to the government. I’ve talked to many senior members in the tourism bureau for example about alternatives to scooters and cars in national parks and how the bad traffic discourages cyclists in areas they want to develop for cycling.
Taiwanese are often pretty clueless about how the rest of the world perceives this place. Once, when I talked about how bad garbage is the officials were astonished, saying it is so much better than before. Yes, I said, but first time visitors don’t see that. It was obvious no one had ever thought that before. It made an impact though how much in the long term I have no idea. I’m just one person. But change starts somewhere.
I always encourage people to write to tourism departments and make their complaints as if they were tourists. Those messages are listened to more carefully as tourism is one of the key developing industries.
If you say you are a resident they will look at you as a non-voter.
Eh, Taiwan has shops and supermarkets everywhere, this is no argument at all. Convenience stores are the highest density in the world and supermarkets maybe not far behind.[/quote]
Convinience stores don’t have everything, and again, no way I carry food for a whole family on a bus. Thats just nonsense. I’d spend all free time walking and waiting for buses or being pushed around by crowds, no thanks The whole transportation is broken in Taipei. I don’t know any other places where traffic lights are red on major boulevards for 80+ seconds… The uglyness they do with the new concrete of the new rails is impressive. Won’t ever change
Eh, Taiwan has shops and supermarkets everywhere, this is no argument at all. Convenience stores are the highest density in the world and supermarkets maybe not far behind.[/quote]
Convinience stores don’t have everything, and again, no way I carry food for a whole family on a bus. Thats just nonsense. I’d spend all free time walking and waiting for buses or being pushed around by crowds, no thanks The whole transportation is broken in Taipei. I don’t know any other places where traffic lights are red on major boulevards for 80+ seconds… The uglyness they do with the new concrete of the new rails is impressive. Won’t ever change [/quote]
Really? Around the world, in urban areas families live without scooters and cars and manage to buy groceries just fine. The excuses on this thread are an eye-opener for sure.
Without scooters clogging up every sidewalk you’d be able to pull a little grocery stroller. Or you’d enjoy walking to the shop every day or two after work to pick up food like people do in many parts of the world.
Plenty of families living in downtown Vancouver for example manage to get their groceries just fine. Most see a 15 minute stroll to the supermarket as a pretty normal thing to do.
People forget just how much the scooter culture here makes urban life unpleasant and reinforces other bad habits.
[quote=“headhonchoII”
Eh, Taiwan has shops and supermarkets everywhere, this is no argument at all. Convenience stores are the highest density in the world and supermarkets maybe not far behind.[/quote]
My nearest supermarket is 30 minutes away by car, FAR, FAR longer by (mostly non-existent) bus. I don’t buy anything other than milk and smokes at the 7-11. I have to buy gorceries for the family. Them things are HEAVY! I’ll stick to my car, thank you.
[quote=“sandman”][quote=“headhonchoII”
Eh, Taiwan has shops and supermarkets everywhere, this is no argument at all. Convenience stores are the highest density in the world and supermarkets maybe not far behind.[/quote]
My nearest supermarket is 30 minutes away by car, FAR, FAR longer by (mostly non-existent) bus. I don’t buy anything other than milk and smokes at the 7-11. I have to buy gorceries for the family. Them things are HEAVY! I’ll stick to my car, thank you.[/quote]
Yes, some people will need personal transport because they live far from an MRT line, or bus line, or grocery store. So what? 90% do live near a grocery store or market. 90% do live near public transport lines and getting them to use it will have immense benefits to us all, you and your family included.
Your experience is atypical. And in an ideal world you would be paying a premium for your decision to live further out and still commute into the city in a way that is maximally convenient for you.
[quote=“zender”]About how long does it take to “fill 'er up” at one of the charging stations? It has to compete with people who spend 80 seconds filling their scooters with gas.
And which is louder, riding on the MRT or riding on a scooter? I think it’s close.
I use both, and I know that a scooter saves me over half an hour per day over the MRT. That’s time I can spend with my two lovely girls before they go to bed. If your job means you might go between a few locations during the day, you might save yourself more than that. The difference in cost is negligible for me, but I’m sure it matters to many.
I also think the freedom that a scooter gives you is underestimated by some non-scooterers. You can (but I don’t) have a drink and a smoke as you drive along, but you can’t on the MRT; you can bring a fair bit of shopping home on a scooter, and when you want to get up into the mountains or go off the grid, you’ve got your own wheels.
Electric vehicles should be cheaper to run than gas ones. Once they are convenient, I can imagine the masses changing over. I’ve seen photos of electric cars from about 100 years ago. I’ve seen electric motorcycles that run a 8.9 second quarter mile. If they put half the effort into electric that they’ve put into internal combustion, we’ll be silently scootering around in no time.---------------------------------------------
Edit to add everything after the first line.[/quote]
I believe that is the point many of us have been making here.
[quote=“sandman”][quote=“headhonchoII”
Eh, Taiwan has shops and supermarkets everywhere, this is no argument at all. Convenience stores are the highest density in the world and supermarkets maybe not far behind.[/quote]
My nearest supermarket is 30 minutes away by car, FAR, FAR longer by (mostly non-existent) bus. I don’t buy anything other than milk and smokes at the 7-11. I have to buy gorceries for the family. Them things are HEAVY! I’ll stick to my car, thank you.[/quote]
You live on a hill in the boonies somewhere, and now you are talking about cars, are you actually reading anything on here ? :loco:
My sister in-law makes 28,000 NT / month and she runs a car. Bought it new actually, Toyota something or other. Her co-workers also own cars. They aren’t mirages. Intuition and assumptions don’t cut it.[/quote]
Yeah, mate. But who does she live with? What are her other expenses? I’m guessing with her parents, and free to spend on what she wants as everything else is taken care of. I could be wrong, but I would be surprised if I am.
Gets a bit tough if you have a kid in kindy, rent, utilities, groceries and saving for a deposit on a house/apartment.
Nobody could run a car in Taipei City without other financial back-up on a salary of 30k/mth. Parking fees would eat up at least 5k/mth alone between working and home parking, so assuming they have a take home pay of 25k/mth thereabouts after paying income tax, health insurance and lao bao, that leaves them with about 20k/mth to play with. Let’s take away 3k/mth more for car running costs, maintenance and annual tax. 17k per month? Even buying the car in the first place seems impossible.
Does not compute Gman!
[quote=“headhonchoII”]Nobody could run a car in Taipei City without other financial back-up on a salary of 30k/mth. Parking fees would eat up at least 5k/mth alone between working and home parking, so assuming they have a take home pay of 25k/mth thereabouts after paying income tax, health insurance and lao bao, that leaves them with about 20k/mth to play with. Let’s take away 3k/mth more for car running costs, maintenance and annual tax. 17k per month? Even buying the car in the first place seems impossible.
Does not compute Gman![/quote]
No matter how much or on what someone spends for their own living nobody should try to force someone how to live their lives (a dangerous thing).
It would be insane to block all the cars and scooters just because they are here. You might as well ask for shutting down major airports, closing all highways at night or ask for shops to close at 17:00 (a law that long existed in Germany but luckily is gone).
Going for electric scooters is probably the best thing in the kind of city that Taipei City is.
But unless a major western city sees this arriving I don’t see how Taipei could be first.
Banning is not a solution, its just a “quick fix” and causes other major headaches.
Fantasy land mate, we are forced to do things all the time. Try not paying your taxes? Try not having a passport? Try driving without a driving license? Try taking something without paying for it?
The whole transportation is broken in Taipei. I don’t know any other places where traffic lights are red on major boulevards for 80+ seconds… The uglyness they do with the new concrete of the new rails is impressive. Won’t ever change 
