Constant source of surprise and confusion to me. On weekends I’ll see tons of other cyclists on the busy roads. But then I turn off onto a much prettier side road, and I’m on my own.
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Disagree I never get a seat at Tamsui station even on the 7am train. I gave up trying and just take the light rail to hongshulin. Also tamsui station sucks there’s consistently two trains open at a time with no clear indication which one is leaving first. Both fill up with people so you just can’t really tell until it’s about to leave. It’s super annoying
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They do helpfully (/s) tell you something like “Platform 1 train is departing first.” But if there’s a clear sign telling you which is Platform 1 and which is Platform 2, I haven’t yet seen it. Presumably there’s one - or I hope more - but I’m never able to locate it.
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I made a stop at the Hi-Life at the entrance of Balaka where cyclists congregate. I was the only cyclist continuing on the 101; everyone else was heading up Balaka. I turned onto a side road toward the 三板橋 area where there were no one else except a few lazy dogs bathing in the sun. These secluded side roads are definitely a kept secret, and you guys are lucky to have them in your backyard. This out-of-towner is envious.
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Yup. But I’m now having my third day in a row of looking out the window and thinking “Ugh, those skies are too gray-brown for a ride”, and later second-guessing myself about that decision. Today’s a bit cleaner than yesterday - I’m hoping for enough of an improvement tomorrow.
That being said about the less travelled side roads, Balaka IS wonderful. And I’m incredibly lucky that I almost always climb it on weekdays.
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Because 7am on a work day is rush hour. You get better availability around 9am.
But it’s like half of Taiwan is crammed in danshui with limited transport option by any means, so even driving you’ll be sitting in traffic too.
Funny thing is that Balaka was relatively unknown (as in it was rare to see other cyclists there) not many years ago.
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You can never be too careful when lung cancer is Taiwan’s number one cancer.
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@Taiwan_Luthiers was referring to trains to Tamsui, not into downtown. It’s easy to get a seat on a train at 7 a.m. from Taipei Main station to Tamsui.
Going from Tamsui to downtown it’s best to take one of the late night trains. If you need to be in town early, take the last train the night before.
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Hongshulin to Tamsui. Grab a seat in Tamsui. Wait patiently.
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I’ve taken the train from downtown past 10pm, it’s still quite full, and not only that but the trains run at reduced speed.
Nothing makes you happy, huh? 
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Oh I found fir the reverse as long as your origin is after Mainstation, you can always get a seat once the train hits main station. A lot of people get off at main station so it’s easy to get a spot if you’re already on the train
Depends. A lot, I mean a lot of people get on at ntu hospital station for some reason, and also cks memorial hall. Best sometimes is to just go all the way to shangshan because most the people get on at daan station.
It only takes about 10 minutes to get from shangshan to Taipei main station. Train runs faster.
Shangshan is not even on the red line. Looks like it’s somewhere in China.
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Presumably he meant Xiangshan, and no way is it “about 10 minutes”.
It’s apparently 17 minutes (here), so I guess this was part of his usual hobby of spreading weirdly wrong info about the MRT system. 
Or 34 minutes plus the waiting time, if you’re doing it in both directions as suggested. 
Just came across this year old video showing retirees stats:
(https://youtu.be/JSR0gZLBVsI?si=qJfvGULixeWSQhDY)
Has anyone also considered the other areas mentioned in the video before making your final choice of where to live? What won you over?