Everything you wanted to know about the YouBike

Recreation Cycling
121

[quote=“Hokwongwei”][quote=“Steve4nLanguage”]My recent Ubike experience:

On Sunday I went to Taipei very early to do some geocaching.[/quote]

What, exactly, is that?[/quote]
It’s a hobby like treasure hunting. I just got into it in August and I’m now obsessed. There’s a video below that explains it.

Not to get too much into my personal life, but my only sister committed suicide in October, which pushed me into a depression that I’d never experienced before. Geocaching was a lifesaver for me because it got me out of the house and gave me exercise and something to do with my mind and time other than sit around and be depressed.

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[quote=“Steve4nLanguage”]My recent Ubike experience:

On Sunday I went to Taipei very early to do some geocaching. I had planned to get around using the MRT and walking, but since I was near a Ubike stand that actually had some bikes (it was 7am, after all) I decided to get some exercise. In the past I’d only ever gotten a Ubike for a short jaunt, so it was always free. But this time I ended up keeping the bike for eleven hours. I have no idea how much it cost me because when I returned the bike I kept getting an error number when I scanned my Easy Card (there was NT$900+ on the card). I tried to remove the bike and try the return process again, but the bike was now locked into the rack, and swiping the card just kept giving me error message 02 (Problem with card).

The next day I got a phone message that the bike had never been returned. When I called and explained what happened, the friendly worker looked up my info told me I needed to go back to the station I returned the bike to, and once there I should call back and try again. I told her that I was calling from Taoyuan where I live and work. She kept insisting that I needed to go back to the bike station in Taipei. After the third time of explaining that I was in Taoyuan and about to go to work I finally said, “The next time I’m in Taipei I’ll take care of it.” At that point she said she’d have one of their staff go to the station and check it out, and call me back. That was more than 24 hours ago and I still haven’t gotten a call back, so I’m assuming that my Easy Card will be blocked from renting a bike in the future. Who knows?[/quote]

If my math doesn’t fail me, which it sometimes does, that’s about 660NT you racked up there for renting the youbike for 11 hours. If you say you had 900NT in your easy card, insufficient funds should not have been a problem for you.

Did you double check that the bike was securely parked in the spot? Sometimes the computer malfunctions if the parking sensor-thing is not lined up.

This has happened to me a few times where I’ve parked the bike and it gave me an error message, but no funds were deducted (when they were suppose to be). I guess you got away with a freebee.

[quote=“Hokwongwei”][quote=“Steve4nLanguage”]My recent Ubike experience:

On Sunday I went to Taipei very early to do some geocaching.[/quote]

What, exactly, is that?[/quote]

Ditto

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[quote=“ranlee”]

If my math doesn’t fail me, which it sometimes does, that’s about 660NT you racked up there for renting the youbike for 11 hours. If you say you had 900NT in your easy card, insufficient funds should not have been a problem for you.[/quote]
Right before I returned the bike I went to 7 Eleven and added funds, so I’m sure the balance was $900. When I talked to the Ubike employee on the phone and told her the error message, she said it was just “card error” but not necessarily insufficient funds. I know the card works because I used it for the MRT that day and, well, just added funds with no problem.

To be honest, when I went to return the bike I couldn’t remember the exact way to do it. Before I put the bike back, I tried scanning my card. I got the 02 error message, twice. So I figured that I must have to put the bike in the rack first. I did so, and the bike locked into place. I tried scanning the card again a few times, but I kept getting the same message. So I tried to redo everything, but the bike was locked in. My Taiwanese friend who was with me also couldn’t figure out what was wrong, so since the bike was secured we left.

In retrospect, I should have called right then and there; however, I’d been riding around for hours, it was dark, and we were on our way to a friend’s house for a birthday, so I figured, “Well, they have the bike back, so I guess everything is cool.” Of course I don’t mind paying, but I surely don’t want to have to go all the way back to Taipei to do so.

[quote][quote=“Hokwongwei”][quote=“Steve4nLanguage”]My recent Ubike experience:

On Sunday I went to Taipei very early to do some geocaching.[/quote]

What, exactly, is that?[/quote]

Ditto[/quote]
See my comment above :slight_smile:

124

Taiwanese will stop using Ubikes from the very second it’s no longer free for the first 30 minutes.
Taiwanese love cheap or free things and rather sacrifice quality of life than spend 10 NT$.
For those 10 NT$ they could have bought another spoon full of mystery meat from the nigh market boilt in gutter oil.
Famous Taiwanese snack I heard.

Being cheap will one day kill this island.[/quote]

Yeah, I don’t see that happening.

In response to your comment about locals being cheap. The 10NT is still cheaper than any means of public transportation available. Cheapest MRT fare is 16NT and bus is 15NT. If you hold a student easy card, even cheaper. Don’t even try to get me on the half off bus or MRT after you’ve taken either the bus or MRT. The added fair of bus+MRT is still more than the ubike fare. If locals are cheap, why not use the cheapest means of transportation available? Or are you saying they are so cheap they would rather spend zero dollars and walk to get to their destination at an even slower pace?

Yes, it does add up if you’re only running errands like some people use it for, but the bikes are already a staple means of transportation for a lot of people and I don’t see how a 10NT hike in the price will really mean no one will be using the bikes. I predict there will be a decline in users, but not to the point where you won’t see anyone riding them. They are just too convenient.

This was a good move by Mayor Ko because he saw that the system was making little to no money. I don’t use the bikes often since I bought my own bike for exercise and short 7-11 or food runs, but when I do, 10NT will not stop me.[/quote]

You are right that those who use Ubike instead of MRT or bus will not be stopped.
But those who have so far replaced the last mile of their commute with a Ubike or enjoyed it as a pastime - all within the initial 30 minutes - will likely stop using it. Why should they pay for something that had been free of charge to them? There is no value in it.

I think that’s great for those who seriously use the Ubike system and not just congest the system without contributing to its upkeep.

125

Steve, thanks for the info, and I’m terribly sorry for your loss. Glad to hear you’re pulling through.

126

I’ve found that you need to “slam” the U-bike into it’s slot quite thoroughly in order for it to properly engage… The card comes after that. Note that if you have a combined youyoucard and creditcard, then for as far as I found the youyoucard chip is embedded near the youyoucard logo and not near the creditcard chip, so make sure to place the correct part of the card on the receiver (don’t try to scan the creditcard chip while holding the card at it’s youyoucard area)

127

I’m truly sorry to hear that, Steve.

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Hokwongwei and irishstu, thank you for your kind thoughts. It was a rough period but good friends, and time, got me through it.

129

:no-no: You don’t need to slam it. The white line on the ground under the parking dock is there for a reason. Just roll the front wheel over the white line as you park the bike. This will ensure a smooth insertion.

130

Just get the new Youyou card with the chip visible … and get it registered on your name.

131

:no-no: You don’t need to slam it. The white line on the ground under the parking dock is there for a reason. Just roll the front wheel over the white line as you park the bike. This will ensure a smooth insertion.[/quote]

I was going to say the same exact thing. All you have to do is align the front wheel with that white line and and push it up into the lock.

UNLESS the lock on the bike is somehow crooked. I’ve had a few bikes like that and had to jam it in. However, usually you just have to align it with the white line.

It sounds like I’ve had every problem with a youbike imaginable with my last few posts. Luckily, no flat tire yet.

[quote=“hsinhai78”]
You are right that those who use Ubike instead of MRT or bus will not be stopped.
But those who have so far replaced the last mile of their commute with a Ubike or enjoyed it as a pastime - all within the initial 30 minutes - will likely stop using it. Why should they pay for something that had been free of charge to them? There is no value in it.

I think that’s great for those who seriously use the Ubike system and not just congest the system without contributing to its upkeep.[/quote]

I think a policy for youbike after bus/MRT will come in time. Someone up there has to know that a lot of people take the youbike for the last or maybe even first leg their commutes.

Only time will tell.

132

There is an article about youbike with input from a transport official guy. He thinks its unsafe to use them to commute.(true) And that people are happy to use them to commute to an mrt station and he seems quite happy with this… So i dont really see any improvements unless the taiwanese people really latch on to the idea of using the bikes for more intercity travel.

Imo this whole scheme is useless to me without cycle lanes throughout taipei. The streets are not safe to walk through half the time due to the scooter traffic hell. Riding a bike through that mess? No thanks. ubikes serving the purpose of reaching mrt stations is not enough. Cycle lanes are needed… but it seems like the higher ups couldnt give a crap. sorry to fill the thread with negativity but the whole thing just frustrates me.

133

The lanes are your friend. Well my friend anyway. But I haven’t ventured any real long distances yet.

134

Anybody else seen this story? This guy circumscribed the island on a youbike. Did it in 4 days and the rental came to more than $7000. :astonished: He said he just wanted to prove one could do it on a 3-speed youbike. :notworthy:

news.tvbs.com.tw/life/news-644169/

1 Like
135

[quote=“Incubus”]Anybody else seen this story? This guy circumscribed the island on a youbike. Did it in 4 days and the rental came to more than $7000. :astonished: He said he just wanted to prove one could do it on a 3-speed youbike. :notworthy:

news.tvbs.com.tw/life/news-644169/[/quote]

They increased the fare for longer rentals to prevent this kind of (ab)use after a guy rode a Ubike up to Hehuanshan. Apparently, a new price rise is in the making now.

136

It’s bound to happen again, regardless of the price. It’s these kinds of people that go out for what they think is glory, but really ruin for those of us using the system for it’s actual purpose.

People who do things just to prove they did it. Tend to have a lot of time on their hands and also not care too much about costs.

137

For 7000 NTD, couldn’t you just buy a new bicycle to ride around the Island and then throw it away afterwards?

138

I was thinking for $7000, he could’ve rented a top-notch bike. But the money was beside the point. He wanted to prove where there’s a will, there’s a way. 踩出去就對了(“Just pedal away!”) He also won the bragging right to be the first person to encircle Taiwan on a Youbike.

139

This is a pretty interesting and well written article about the Youbike system as well as VeloCity being held here earlier this month

http://www.theguardian.com/cities/2016/mar/15/bicycle-kingdom-reborn-pavement-cycling-taipei-taiwan

140

I finally registered for YouBike and tried it for the first time today. I like it! But I have noticed that a LOT of cars are illegally parked on the main roads!