Apple Daily has good news for Taipei cyclists–12 new MRT stations will allow bicycles on March 1st. The combined ticket price for bicycle and rider has also been lowered to NT$80 per trip regardless of distance. Other rules are much the same. All stations are open on weekends and holidays from 6:00AM to 4:00PM. They close between 4:00PM and 7:00PM for rush hour and then reopen until the end of service that day.
The new stations are mainly on the blue line that runs east to west from Nankang to Tucheng in Taipei County. Access to these stations opens up a number of great riding possibilities in western Taipei County including the Northern Cross Highway, Shihmen Reservoir, and shorter rides in the area surrounding Sanxia.
In the other direction, access to Kunyang station makes a number of day rides that loop from the Muzha area back to Nankang more doable in a morning and greatly reduces the amount of city riding. A bike lane out to Nankang would improves things even more.
On the down side, the Muzha line remains off limits due to the small size of the cars. Taipei Station and Chunghsiao-Fuxing are also not accessible. However, Xiaonanmen near the Botanical Gardens is open.
I’ll try to follow up with rides that start from the newly-opened stations, but that will have to wait until next week after I get back from riding from Chiayi to Taitung via the Southern Cross.
There is a big shop renting bikes at the Zoo station though, which obviates the need for most people to bring a bike on this line. Also, you can always get off at Qizhang or Jingmei and ride along the dike paths to Muzha now.
Yes, access to Muzha is getting better all the time. I haven’t been out that way for a couple of months though. Did they ever actually finish the bike path? They were close last fall, but the dirt sections are pretty nasty after rain. Of course you can always ride up on the dikes on the north side of the road. There are two very short sections of steps to be navigated. Or you can ride on the road on the Xindian (south) side of the Jingmei river.
Wow, this is FANTASTIC news for me, being that I live right by Kunyang MRT Station.
Any idea which stations it will be?
Also, when you say the Main Station is off limits, I know you can’t get on at that place, but can you transfer? (I wouldn’t be surprised if you can’t because shifting a bike from red to blue or vice versa would be pretty difficult with all the people traffic there. Would really be a shame though.
Yes, access to Muzha is getting better all the time. I haven’t been out that way for a couple of months though. Did they ever actually finish the bike path? They were close last fall, but the dirt sections are pretty nasty after rain. Of course you can always ride up on the dikes on the north side of the road. There are two very short sections of steps to be navigated. Or you can ride on the road on the Xindian (south) side of the Jingmei river.
What kind of bikes does the Zoo station rent?[/quote]
Haven’t seen them up close but they look like mountain-bike wannabee type things. Fine for most people riding on the flat dike paths.
They have almost finished the section between Jingmei and Muzha (the Muzha-Xindian bridge), layind down the tarmac and putting in lines. I followed it one night but not to the end. Don’t think that tiny last section from the start of the Jingmei route is compete or even worked on. The area in front of the college. Which is kind of dumb to have left out a half km still unless you can ride along the sidewalk for a short distance and then get onto the new path. Will have to check out.
I was just about to post the same thing, as I saw the info notice at the weekend.
I had been concerned that transferring at Taipei Main might not be possible. This workaround adds 5 stops if you are going from east to north, or vice versa. Also, you have to transfer twice rather than once.
Still, it’s better than not being able to transfer at all.
Yes, access to Muzha is getting better all the time. I haven’t been out that way for a couple of months though. Did they ever actually finish the bike path? They were close last fall, but the dirt sections are pretty nasty after rain. Of course you can always ride up on the dikes on the north side of the road. There are two very short sections of steps to be navigated. Or you can ride on the road on the Xindian (south) side of the Jingmei river.
What kind of bikes does the Zoo station rent?[/quote]
Haven’t seen them up close but they look like mountain-bike wannabee type things. Fine for most people riding on the flat dike paths.
They have almost finished the section between Jingmei and Muzha (the Muzha-Xindian bridge), layind down the tarmac and putting in lines. I followed it one night but not to the end. Don’t think that tiny last section from the start of the Jingmei route is compete or even worked on. The area in front of the college. Which is kind of dumb to have left out a half km still unless you can ride along the sidewalk for a short distance and then get onto the new path. Will have to check out.[/quote]
can confirm muzha-jingmei-xindian is now open-ago-go on one side, muzha road side…they are currently excavating one section on the zhengda side…there is still 400 meters on the road to connect with the main path to gongguan but thats not really a problem…