If you sit at the lights for two minutes, creating pollution, then drive 100 metres and have to stop again for another two minutes, and repeat this pattern all the way across Taipei, then the temptation to try and beat the lights gets pretty big.
If I average 80kmh along Roosevelt Rd I generally don’t have to stop very often. If I drive safely and legally I have to stop as soon as I’ve figured out how to get into second gear.
Surely the traffic lights could be timed so that you can follow the major arteries at a safe legal speed without having to stop very often, thus also avoiding the need to continually stop/start and sit there producing air pollution?
Or are the lights there to make life difficult so that people don’t make unnecessary journeys by car? Are they trying to make it more convenient to take public transport?
[quote]If I average 80kmh along Roosevelt Rd I generally don’t have to stop very often. If I drive safely and legally I have to stop as soon as I’ve figured out how to get into second gear.
Surely the traffic lights could be timed so that you can follow the major arteries at a safe legal speed without having to stop very often, thus also avoiding the need to continually stop/start and sit there producing air pollution?[/quote]
Ooh! Ooh! My peeve! Right here on the flob for all to see. Yes. If you go along Roosevelt at 93kph from the Keelung Rd roundabout you can get to the bridge at Jingmei before you get caught at the lights. If you go at 115 you can get to Chichang on a good day. If you go at 60 you can get nearly to Wanlung MRT. If you go by the speed limit you get stopped at every single set of lights. But if they timed it so the law-abiding could get a clear shot (which they could, very easily) there would be no point in having those speed cameras along that road. Those things rake in something like $1,200 per flash! That’s some good eatin’.
Who told you that? It must have been Urodacus, in a vain attempt to make you go fast on your new bicycle. I thought he’d given up trying to excite you with tales of speed, and accepted that 40 is a safe limit for someone of your advanced years.
Perhaps there could be some kind of shared scooter program for oldies? A fleet of pink 50cc put-puts with reserved parking places at major shopping centres!
Hmm. People who don’t kive where they work and live up a hill in a silly suburb because it looks pretty and use motorised transport to get around and complain about people with larger motorised transport polluting the air. Make like Merlin/Jesus and WALK.
That makes no sense. You’d want to ride the bike to 101 and then go shopping or up the tower or whatever. Who on earth would simply ride from the MRT to 101 and back? So it wouldn’t be free at all.
They’d need to have drop-off points near these places where people congregate so you can there, ditch the bike and grab a new one when you’re finished.
It’s academic anyway. Even if they get ultra ultra cheap ones they’ll still just get stolen within a few days or weeks, or ridden and just thrown in some bushes or whatever.[/quote]
Sandman, the point I was trying to make and which the China Post totally failed to communicate was how the system works. The idea is not simply to ride the bike from City Hall MRT Station to Taipei 101 and back again. There would be bike hire stations at both locations. You can hire a bike at the MRT Station and ride it to Taipei 101. Then return it to the station there. You are then free to go shopping or whatever. You don’t have to continue paying for the bicycle or worry about its security. When finished at Taipei 101 one can hire another bike in a separate transaction and ride it back again.
I encourage everyone to try the system when it is installed and perhaps reserve your criticisms until then. I think the problem at present is people not clearly understanding how these systems work. While it is not a new idea, it is becoming increasingly popular in cities around the world. Perhaps the most well known is Paris’s Vélib’ system. I have posted a few links below for those who would like to know more.
So that’s Taipei 101 sorted. At least there are cycle lanes on the sidewalks in that small neighbourhood. What about the rest of the city? If this is going to be more than just a silly bit of lip-service to the greens, it has to be comprehensive. Have the authorities increased the number of ambulances to deal with the surge in traffic injuries caused by daft and inexperienced xiaojies pedalling around in high traffic density areas, for example?
Sure I can see it working, to a small degree, in small pockets, which is better than nothing, I suppose, but its hardly going to make a real difference I don’t believe.
I most certainly won’t be trying it, though. I don’t use public transport very much, plus I have a deep-seated aversion to riding bicycles with baskets on the front. That’s another thing. How are these soon-to-be sturdy-thighed, firm-buttocked cyclist shoppers going to carry their purchases on these bicycles? Have they thought of that?
This is quite funny to read, as it wouldn’t force us. Mayor Daley, a huge fan of Paris and biking, has been trying to implement this program a for a couple of years. We have a test pilot going on, but don’t know to what extent it’s been successful. But Chicago has vast biking population anyway given our love for the critical mass bike thingy that goes on each year.
U-Bike is the FIRST public bike hire program in Taiwan that is completely autonomous and unattended. It is also possibly the only bike hire program in the world where your standard transit pass card is used to hire the bikes as well, thus making them an extension of the city wide public transport system. Yes, you will use your MRT/Bus EasyCard stored value card to hire the U-Bike!
The bike is a custom made 26" wheel bike with a very sturdy frame (heavy) and uses sturdy parts all around. In fact, you would not want it to fall on you.
You will also not want to climb hills with it as it has only 3 gears courtesy of its Shimano Nexus 3 speed rear hub. However, for city riding it is very stable and nimble. The front cargo basket is large enough for a bag of groceries, while an integrated anti-theft cable lock means that you can safely lock your U-Bike outside and get the said groceries. The heft of the bike again comes in handy as carrying it away is not feasible.
The U-Bikes will initially only be available in the Taipei Xinyi district with a roll out to more locations planned for later in 2009. It was very encouraging to see the heads of the department of transport, along with the mayor of Taipei and the President of Taishin bank (the service providers) at the launch. Hopefully this initiative will further move Taipei along the path of reducing motorised traffic, including the endemic scooter traffic.
[b]
The cost of hiring the U-Bike is as follows:
[color=#FF0040]1st 30 minutes: Free
Every additional 15 minutes: NT$ 10
For tourists, one day pass costs NT$ 40, while the 5 day pass is NT$ 150 after a NT$ 3000 security deposit on your credit card.
There’s an article in the New York Times describing the problem Paris has had with its Velib bicyles. It’s titled Paris bike-sharing system succumbing to Vandals.
Of the 15,000 bicycles originally disbursed for the program, more than half have disappeared, reports the BBC, presumed to be stolen. Some Velib customers have even taking to filming their Velib (mis)adventures and posting the destruction of the bikes on video-sharing sites like YouTube (here’s one). The practice apparently even has its own catchy nickname: “Velib extreme.”
Nearly all of the original bikes have been replaced. At an estimated cost of roughly $500 each, the cost for replacing the entire fleet of 20,000 bikes would run about $10 million.
According to the BBC, Remi Pheulpin, JCDecaux’s director general, told Le Parisien that replacement and maintenance costs are “so high that a private business cannot handle it alone, especially as it’s a problem of public order. If we want the Velib set-up to keep going, we’ll have to change the business model.”
End quote.
In other word’s it doesn’t pay. This is another choice example of “community” idealism being mugged by the reality of human nature. What did they think was going to happen?
I checked out the YouTube link and it just looked like some kids having a good time with the bikes. They weren’t trying to wreck them and they all got returned at the end.
Wonder how this works in the hot humid summer… be sure to bring a fresh change of clothes or they’ll think you’re a smelly hobo and not let you into places
It’s a PR exercise… people here fear travelling on a scooter in traffic, so as for bikes which are smaller and less visible… the fear factor only increases
If Taipei wants to look techy and modern, why not put those bikes along the river… there would be plenty of take up on the weekend and plenty of vandalism and theft at nightime
I checked out the YouTube link and it just looked like some kids having a good time with the bikes. They weren’t trying to wreck them and they all got returned at the end.[/quote]
Yeah they weren’t being malicious. But the stairs? And the jumping and the crashes? Apparently, its common for broken bikes to have their seats turned backwards, letting people know which ones are busted. Bikes have to be inspected before they are hired. And half of them missing? I’d prefer to have my own bike.
The sidewalks around 101 area are starting to look ugly. For some reason, they decided to fill the sidewalks with bike stands. Just taking up good space.