Tainan has a handful of marked bicycle lanes but the markings are useless. As is usually the case with the scooter lane, most car drivers simply use them as an unauthorized parking/ double parking lane. :bluemad:
How are the lanes in other cities? Is their appropriate use ever enforced or a least repected?
What can be done, if anything, to change the current situation? 
I’ve thought about having bumper sticker sized frangible stickers made that say in Chinese “Don’t park your car here” with sillouettes of a bicycle and motorcycle, and slap them onto cars. I also realize I’d go broke trying to print enough of them, and eventually someone would want to chase me with a metal pipe.
I’ve always wanted to splash red food colouring over the back of cars parked in the parking lane, erm, scooter lane, with a big hard-to-remove sticker saying ‘careless parking kills people’. Because it does. But the fact is, in Taiwan you would get sued off the face of the earth for doing such a thing. Unlike, for example, causing death by parking carelessly, which results in … er, no sanctions whatsoever, apart from possibly a parking ticket.
[quote=“kjmillig”]Tainan has a handful of marked bicycle lanes but the markings are useless. As is usually the case with the scooter lane, most car drivers simply use them as an unauthorized parking/ double parking lane. :bluemad:
How are the lanes in other cities? Is their appropriate use ever enforced or a least repected? [/quote]
The bike lanes on Dunhua S Rd in Taipei are equally a joke. They eliminated hundreds of legal parking spots in an area of the city where parking fees are among the most expensive but people still stop there illegally anyway, blocking the bike path. I have never seen any enforcement of the bike lane rules.
What makes it even more absurd is that there are two landscaped medians where a bike path could have been put in and not affected car/bus/scooter/taxi traffic at all. :loco:
bike lanes in the any city in taiwan are ‘questionable’…if you live in northern taiwan, there is a 60 km untouched bike road that goes from bali to longtan(senkeng). gov’t specifically built this to combat the urban mess…you can do the round trip in a day(i arrive back around 5 pm) and even have a long lunch.
can you show this on a google map, please?
can you show this on a google map, please?[/quote]
I don’t know about Google, but the Xinbei City Government’s cycling site has its own map.
but that doesn’t help me when i ride from Songshan airport to Muzha, does it?
bike lanes are a bone of contention in lots of places. Follow the shenanigans going on in New York and Sydney at the moment, for example.
The only city with reasonably good bike lanes is Ktown, though you’ll still get scooters using them to cut corners.
In general, Taiwan is not ready for urban lanes. It hasn’t been that long since most western cities started designing them and that is after decades of bike usage by ordinary people. Taiwan’s bike craze is only a few years old. In 10-20 years I could see people pushing for urban lanes. Now the momentum is too weak.
So be it. We have a great MRT in Taipei and the riverside paths are a joy to ride and get better every year.
Take photos and send it to Apple Daily or video and send to TVBS. If you can get it onto the local media, the govt might start doing something in regards to enforcement.
[quote=“kjmillig”]Tainan has a handful of marked bicycle lanes but the markings are useless. As is usually the case with the scooter lane, most car drivers simply use them as an unauthorized parking/ double parking lane. :bluemad:
How are the lanes in other cities? Is their appropriate use ever enforced or a least repected?
What can be done, if anything, to change the current situation? I’ve thought about having bumper sticker sized frangible stickers made that say in Chinese “Don’t park your car here” with sillouettes of a bicycle and motorcycle, and slap them onto cars. I also realize I’d go broke trying to print enough of them, and eventually someone would want to chase me with a metal pipe.[/quote]
KJ -
This issue, bike lanes, is an especially prominent one with the Tainan City Mayors office.
I would suggest you send an email to their office with your observations. The city-wide bike tour lanes are something they very much would like to have feed-back about.
Whether it will help or not - Who knows? But I use them on week-ends occasionally and would like to see things sorted out a bit better also.
When I lived in Taoyuan, there were always people parking across them.
If I remember correctly, in a small section of the city, there are actual proper bike lanes in Taidong City now, separate from scooter lanes, which are separate from the car lanes, but maybe they’re just shared with pedestrians. I can’t remember exactly.
yeah right, for a day…they only pay attention to bike lanes when ma is hanging around the area…
It is pretty horrible in Taichung. There is a green-colored bicycle lane on Taiyuan Road heading up to Dakeng. It is often used by scooters or as parking space for cars, as in other parts of Taiwan. In other parts of the city (Han River and Buzi Road), there are bike lanes that are set apart from the road, but they are so poorly done that you would never want to take a road bike on them with any speed whatsoever. I rode once on the bike lane along the Han River and my teeth were chattering at only 15 kph… really horrible…
it is impossible to ride a bike faster than walking pace, isn’t it?
Anyway, there are bicycle paths all over the place, just next to the road and normally raised about 15 cm from the road. Some people call them sidewalks. Sure, some dickheads park scooters on them, or set up street stalls or food stands, but just push them out of the way and you’ll be fine. Best attempted on an upright bike negotiated with one hand while the other holds an umbrella.
You just don’t understand taiwan cycling culture.
its the same with the much vaunted 18 km bike path in Hsinchu that runs from Nanliao south. I tried it once on a road bike and it was not fun. The surface changes every 100 meters. Strictly for the locals.
its the same with the much vaunted 18 km bike path in Xinzhu (Hsinchu) that runs from Nanliao south. I tried it once on a road bike and it was not fun. The surface changes every 100 meters. Strictly for the locals.[/quote]
Really? I did it once too and found it fine for riding.
its the same with the much vaunted 18 km bike path in Xinzhu (Xinzhu (Hsinchu)) that runs from Nanliao south. I tried it once on a road bike and it was not fun. The surface changes every 100 meters. Strictly for the locals.[/quote]
Really? I did it once too and found it fine for riding.[/quote]
Maybe you’re (un)officially a local now!
its the same with the much vaunted 18 km bike path in Xinzhu (Xinzhu (Hsinchu)) that runs from Nanliao south. I tried it once on a road bike and it was not fun. The surface changes every 100 meters. Strictly for the locals.[/quote]
Really? I did it once too and found it fine for riding.[/quote]
not on a road bike with skinny tires. most parts are ok, true, but there’s some parts where the surface is made up of flat concrete slabs; it makes for very juddery riding. if you is on a mountain bike with fat tires and suspension it’d be fine tho’
Oh, okay. My bike is a touring folder with semi-fat tires so yeah, I guess a different experience.
They put in those rough sections to slow riders down in busy areas. Kind of stupid though I see the point. Have yelled at some cyclists speeding into Bitan on a busy weekend when the lanes were packed.
Bike “lanes” shouldn’t even be paved and should be left in their pristine condition.
