Interesting article in the China Post today. Taipei has asked the EPA for an additional $100 million in subsidies for the system.
[quote]EPA tallies show that the daily subsidy for each bike averages NT$110, based on an average of 11 rentals for each bike per day. Some are rented out over 15 times per day, translating into an average duration of two to 10 minutes per rental.
Accordingly, “the higher the turnover rate, the higher the EPA subsidy,” said an EPA official, who called the situation “unreasonable.”
Some EPA officials proposed that the NT$100 million subsidy be equally shared by the EPA, the Taipei City Government and Giant Manufacturing Co., the supplier of the bikes. This proposal, however, has been turned down by Environment Minister Shen Shih-hung.
On another front, Liu Chia-you, an official at Taipei’s Transportation Department, said that the department has installed 101 YouBike rental stops around the city, offering 3,380 bicycles for rent. By the end of 2014, there will be 162 rental stops with more than 5,350 bikes, he added.
Liu conceded that of the over 400,000 registered YouBike users, 80 percent tend to ride for less than half an hour. This means that the majority of riders simply seek to enjoy a free ride, he said.[/quote]
Encourage people on the roads of Taiwan to rush?! Sounds like a scary idea to me.
At this point in time, free riders sound like a good idea. Get people used to using bicycles to get around again. Worry about charging more later - if the bikes are getting even a few people off scooters and out of cars (I know, it’d be only a few, at best), then great.
That’s somewhat short-sighted. The YouBike program isn’t just about earning $$$ for the city government, it’s also about reducing traffic, helping people get where they need, and encouraging exercise. Of course it’s a bad idea to constantly bleed out money on a system like this, but if you start by making it extremely expensive up front, it’s going to be impossible to catch on with regular people.
Sure, eventually. The expansion of the YouBike system is still really recent (last year or the year before), so it will be a while before the investment breaks even. I don’t expect they’ll ever earn any profit on it, though.
The system is also very popular with tourists and increasingly will bring more to the city. That pays for it in itself. Systems like this probably can break even but that shouldn’t be the goal.
I thought this would be a great way to get to and from work now that Piglet is in the shop indefinitely. Wouldn’t you know it, not one station near my house.
What area of Taipei do you live in? Currently most of the stations are concentrated in Xinyi, Daan, Songshan, and Zhongzheng districts. The west side (Wanhua and Datong) is starting to have some. They’re setting up a pretty big one right outside Ximen MRT. But if you live in the northern districts like Shilin, Neihu and Beitou, you’ll still have to wait awhile. The south side the same if you’re in Muzha, but I think there’ll be one in Jingmei pretty soon. Give it some time.
i think the youbike concept is a good idea and more cities around the world have them. but i definitely think the taipei ones are extremely ugly - and feminine. the ones in europe like london are much cooler looking. but then i suppose the good thing about having an ugly rental bike is that nobody wants to steal them.
They should set up a rule that prohibits riders from “returning” a bike and then immediately hiring it again, which effectively starts the time over and saves the rider NT$10 on the rental fee.
Just tonight I was waiting for a bike at an empty station. I had waited no more than a minute when a bike pulled in. Feeling happy about my good luck, I walked right up to it and followed it to a parking dock (an effective method I’ve developed to claim an incoming bike). Upon seeing that I was standing behind his bike, the rider turned to me and said “buhaoyisi, wo hai yao qi” (sorry, I still want to ride it) and proceeded to park it, swipe his card TWICE, pull the bike out and continue on his merry way. :fume: If one wants to be a cheapskate, fine, but at least have the decency to not show it especially when others are waiting for a bike.
[quote=“Incubus”]They should set up a rule that prohibits riders from “returning” a bike and then immediately hiring it again, which effectively starts the time over and saves the rider NT$10 on the rental fee.
Just tonight I was waiting for a bike at an empty station. I had waited no more than a minute when a bike pulled in. Feeling happy about my good luck, I walked right up to it and followed it to a parking dock (an effective method I’ve developed to claim an incoming bike). Upon seeing that I was standing behind his bike, the rider turned to me and said “buhaoyisi, wo hai yao qi” (sorry, I still want to ride it) and proceeded to park it, swipe his card TWICE, pull the bike out and continue on his merry way. :fume: If one wants to be a cheapskate, fine, but at least have the decency to not show it especially when others are waiting for a bike.[/quote]
I see what you mean. That would irritate me, too. So after he returns it, he assumed he had the right to continue riding it. Yeah, the city should draft up some rules about that, which would be especially useful at the busier stations.
I think part of the problem was that I was the only person waiting for a bike at that station and it was pretty late (around 10:00), so he had the audacity to do that. I was at a busy station (Technology Building MRT) this afternoon, and there was already a line of people waiting for bikes when I got there. I doubt anyone would dare to pull such a stunt in such a situation unless the person wants to test the wrath of an angry mob.
Well, either someone in the city government saw my earlier post or others have been complaining about the same thing, i.e., the abuse of repeat rental to avoid paying the rental fee, starting next month, the system won’t allow you to hire the same bike from the same station within 15 minutes of checking it out. There’ll also be a new fee rate. If you rent a bike for more than 4 hours, each additional half hour will be $20 (instead of the original $10) and the fee gets incrementally higher the longer you take the bike out. Definitely a move in the right direction. This will be much more fair to everyone. Thank you, Youbike. :bravo:
Sounds like a scary idea to me.
