Blast! There goes my Smangus trip… :bluemad:
Now if only they would extend these to “New” Taipei.
Couldnt a person just get two cards and rotate them, thus defeating the 15 minute timer?
Too late. Eric Chu had started his own public bike share system–the New Bike. Yup, it even rhymes. It’s a joke compared to the Youbike.
Of course, but I doubt even the stingiest person would go to such trouble just to save $10.
Just found and Android app that gives you a map of stations and list how many bikes/parking spots are available:
play.google.com/store/search?q=bikerker&hl=en
they’re still ugly bikes. who wants to ride on ugly flowery girly bikes anyway?? 
Faster than walking. And you don’t notice how ugly they are when you are on them. Only other people do and who cares what they think.
Faster than walking. And you don’t notice how ugly they are when you are on them. Only other people do and who cares what they think.[/quote]
i do notice how ugly they are when other people ride them. thats why i would never ride them.
Does not compute. In any case, if you are serious, well, okay. I have ridden them and find the convenience and the sheer fun of zipping about the city more than compensates for the deep feelings of inadequacy that surface when I ride such a girly looking vehicle. 
Too late. Eric Chu had started his own public bike share system–the New Bike. Yup, it even rhymes. It’s a joke compared to the Youbike.[/quote]
DAMN, so I can’t bike to work from home because I’d be crossing into Taipei City. This is dumb.
They need to reunify Taipei and New Taipei already. 
Youbikes are the bomb! I’ve been riding home almost every night from Taipower to Shuang Lien. It takes me about 40 minutes trying to snake my way through the pedestrians. I ended up buying a helmet and I’m on the street now, cutting down my time to under 25 minutes. About the wonky lights, they are powered by the front wheel, so lifting the bike up and pedaling won’t do shit. Spin the front tire to see if the lights work. The iphone Ubike app is pretty sweet too. It has all the locations of the bike stands and it tells you how many bikes/parking spots are available.
Too late. Eric Chu had started his own public bike share system–the New Bike. Yup, it even rhymes. It’s a joke compared to the Youbike.[/quote]
What are these Youbikes and New Bikes you speak of?
Are they the latest fashion on the gilded streets of Paris and London?
Is it really possible a bike can be propelled by just ones two feet, a miracle I say!
Yeah, I figured that out. That’s the first thing I check if I’m riding it at night. The problem is you can’t really “spin” the front tire when the bike is locked in place. You have to lift the bike up as much as the mechanism allows (a couple millimeters) and try moving the wheel, which barely moves oftentimes, and then in the one second that the wheel “spins” you check to see if the lights (both front and back) come on. 
Congratulations! You get a free ride.
Here’s something to inspire all you Youbike riders.
Anyone tried to rent a bike, only to get the message “2”, which means card is still in use/last bike not returned? I am pretty sure that I returned the last bike properly. Now what? Great, on the YouBike website, the FAQ section is EMPTY both for English and Chinese! Guess I have to call them. What if they say that I didn’t return my bike properly and have to pay for the last two weeks or pay for the bike? Starting to :fume: already…
It happens to me every other time I rent. I think it’s a technical error because all I have to do is wait a moment and try again or move to the bike next to it and there is no problem.
You can go to a kiosk and check your transaction record (the Android app Bikerker… yes that’s what it called… lets you check your record too) and make sure that you did return your last bike. If not, it will say you’re still riding it.
It happens to me every other time I rent. I think it’s a technical error because all I have to do is wait a moment and try again or move to the bike next to it and there is no problem.
You can go to a kiosk and check your transaction record (the Android app Bikerker… yes that’s what it called… lets you check your record too) and make sure that you did return your last bike. If not, it will say you’re still riding it.[/quote]
I tried every available bike, but didn’t work. The kiosk was occupied by a bunch of newbies who couldn’t make up their mind, so I called YouBike after returning home and they checked the record. They said my card is fine, so as you said probably a technical glitch. Wasn’t so sure because often shoving the bike back into the slot is not smooth and error codes appear frequently when returning the bike. So, just in case, what if you returned you bike without settling the bill and another person starts riding it, or in other words you never return the bike. What is the penalty for that?
You can also log into your account on the Youbike website. It’ll show all your recent transactions (station and time, down to the second). I always log in and use it like a fitness app. I’m now trying to break my record of 23:00 going from Bade Rd to NTU.
If you roll the front wheel directly over the white line on the ground, you should have a smooth insertion.
The city government has announced that the first 30 minutes free deal will continue until August. That may sound like good news, but I was actually looking forward to paying a rental fee. (They had said the free deal could end after 2013.) I find that some people abuse the free 30 minutes privilege, even with the new rules in place. If you make people pay for it, then only the ones who cherish it will use it, and there will be more available bikes.