So I’ve moved up from Tainan to a place in New Taipei City (near Yongan Market) and made some exploratory trips north to the Riverside cycle paths to re-familiarise myself with them after some years away. Only problem is the traffic in NTC, at least around where I am, is kind of horrendous. Is there a quieter, less built-up route or road south of the river anyone can recommend, that connects to the riverside? Or is it, as I suspect, pretty much a battle with the traffic all the way to the dedicated bike paths?
I live at Yong’an Market station. If you take Yongzhen Rd. (永貞路) northeast – that would be a right turn out of the MRT and then another right when you get to the second CPC gas station – you eventually hit Fuhe Rd. (福和路). Turn right, go UNDER the onramp for the bridge, and then turn left when you hit a wall. There’s an entry to the riverside park there, and a bike lane that can take you right across to the Gonguan side, near Treasure Hill and the water park there, from which you can keep biking along the other bank of the river.
From the MRT, it takes less than 10 minutes. You have to battle a little traffic, but since these are small streets, it’s not so bad.
I live right by Yong’an Market MRT station myself. There are two good ways to get to the riverside paths. One is to go over to the Yongfu Bridge at the end of Fuhe Rd., like the poster above mentioned. The other is go on Yongzhen Rd. the other way, take a left at the Ren’ai Park, then immediately take a right when you get to the end of the park. Then follow Baosheng Rd. all the way to the riverside path. This Baosheng Rd. path has less traffic than the other way, but it’s not a huge difference. I usually go towards Gongguan myself, but it all depends on where you want to go. In general the Taipei City bike paths are better than the New Taipei city paths.
I’m not sure how serious of a rider you are, but let me know if you’d like to cycle together sometime. I usually go for about 70-80 km at a time, but I could go on shorter rides to show you some places. PM me if interested.
^^ That works too. I was speaking from a personal bias, I guess, since I have to ride up Taipei’s Xinsheng S Rd to get to work.
I think I found that path under the ramp at the end of Fuhe Rd - that seems the best route at the moment. Like you say, it’s only a short distance before you hit the trails. Thanks!
If you really want to save time, and you can climb inclines at a decent speed, I recommend just staying on the main road and going up the Yongfu bridge as you leave Yonghe (along with the cars and scooters). It saves me at least a couple of minutes versus going under the bride, waiting for the traffic light, going left to get on the bike path, then making my way back to the bridge via the bike path. Then, once you get on the bridge, you can move over to the right side and get on the boardwalk bike path. I always do this now unless I’m riding with my kids. Of course, it helps if you can climb hills at a good speed, and it also helps if traffic is not too heavy.
Have fun exploring. There’s lots of good riding once you get to the riverside paths. If you get tired of the riverside paths and are looking for some other ideas, let me know.
Before I discovered that route, I would take Fuhe Bridge past Treasure Hill, riding in the scooter lane. But since I usually get off work late at night, it always felt extremely dangerous to me. (It would help if I rode with a helmet…)
Dear God. I took one look at the traffic on that bridge (Yongfu) and thought, no way, and besides assumed bicycles weren’t allowed. I feel like I’d be taking my life in my hands to go through that on a bike, and I’m used to riding through heavy traffic (in Glasgow, Scotland).
Bridges are Taipei’s extreme urban riding, they are worth getting used to and using regularly - but never get complacent.