Sorry if I missed a breakdown on this, but is it possible for a visitor to Taiwan to utilize Youbike? How would they register? Thanks!
[For Youbike 1.0; I’m not sure about 2.0] Anyone with a credit card can use Youbike. Each station [1.0] has a kiosk with English.
Much faster is using an Easy Card, which you can register online or at the kiosk, but I’m almost certain that requires a local phone number.
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Another thing wrong with 2.0.
The
- basket cannot fit a regular size daily backpack
- basket is to high for center of gravity on the front of the bike
- basket adding things makes front of bike control awkward and dangerous
It’s like they engineered out the best parts of 1.0. Obviously engineer designed and not user designed.
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It appears all Youbikes 1.0 have been removed in Taipei, right? Also, even with an Easy Card it requires not only a local number but also an ARC, right?
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I’m not sure if everyone tried these [edit: “these” means the e-youbike] out or not. But they were very different from my initial understanding. I thought they were like the bikes you can rent that have batteries and you can pedal if you want ,or you can just ride it like a moped with feet resting.
These ebikes are more like boosted bikes. You have to pedal constantly to move, you just move more effortlessly. Different than the bikes the government was going after with license plates which were essentially less than 50cc scooters that could also be ridden as bikes.
They do have a longer brake distance… So if a pedestrian or car suddenly appears in front, you have to be more aware and stop sooner.
Some of your points are valid, but the part about a backpack in the basket seems off base. For balance and safety, a backpack belongs [wait for it] on your back. 
Guy
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I hesitate to put personal belongings in there after I saw some of the rubbish that had been left in those baskets.
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I tried to get an Ubike today but keep getting “Network exception” error.
There were 3 more people trying and also not been able to get a bike.
After a few more tries I got another message, “Out of service” 
Have anyone experienced that before?
As @tando 's link to the Liberty Times story indicates, it appears there was a system crash, now finally repaired.
Guy
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Youbike in Tainan will reportedly go live on Thursday February 23. For the rest of 2023, rides that are under 30 minutes will be free.
More details here:
Guy
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It’s interesting that Changhua and Yunlin, with Taichung the biggest bike manufacturers in Taiwan, do not have any bike sharing. I believe it says something about their relationship with bicycles (make money, never ever ride one)
Buy a smaller backpack.
Carry said smaller backpack on your back.
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Or take a bus…
I tried the YouBike 2.0E
Very nice to ride in the city. Can easily go 25km/h and faster.
A lot of fun without much sweat.
No help driving up a steep hill road. If RPM goes down too much the motor stops helping and with only three gears it gets very hard to get uphill.
Also pricier to rent.
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Would you say the speeds of these ebikes could make them a problem or dangerous?
That’s my impression of the private ebikes (not the Youbike versions) zinging around in Taipei.
Guy
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More dangerous if you have to break suddenly or something comes out from in front of you. Takes longer distance to break as going faster.
But these are not like regular ebikes that you can ride without peddling. You have to pedal to move. So a bit better in that aspect with less zinging.
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It is up to you how fast you want to go.
I can get up to 30 km/h. I even overtook some slow scooters. The brakes were good.
But it is risky on Taiwanese roads in general. Especially if you drive without a helmet.
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Actually, the regular ebikes are the ones that disconnect the motor when the rider is not pedalling.