I’m loving this GoShare (https://www.ridegoshare.com/) scheme. Although I’ve talked about it under another topic I thought I’d start a dedicated thread.
The App: The app is easy-to-use, visually clean, and uses impeccable English. A map shows where available scooters are located in real time, as well as the location of Gogoro battery stations. There are simple instructions on how to rent, operate, and return the scooters. You can reserve a scooter for up to ten minutes. There’s also a bell icon that will cause the scooter to flash its lights and make an electronic sound to help you locate it, especially helpful at night.
The Scooters They are Gogoros, but I’m not sure which model, maybe 2? Two helmets and a cleaning rag are included in the seat compartment. The info panel indicates the battery levels and driving range remaining (This is also indicated on the app when you search for scooters). They seem to have an 80km range at full batteries.
You use the app to unlock and temporarily lock the bikes, as well as complete the rental. Of course, they’re all new now. I waiting to see the maintenance procedure in due time.
The Cost Currently, the first six minutes are free, then it’s 2.5NT per minute. Fees are based on time, not distance. You pay by the credit card you entered when registering the app. I don’t know if other payment types are accepted.
Parking You must park the scooter in a legal place, of course. Usually it’s been no problem, but once it took me 8 minutes to find a spot, so you need to keep that in mind if you’re on a time constraint.
Problems? The app has an easy to use Issue Report button. So far I’ve used it only once, when I discovered a parking fee slip attached to a scooter I had reserved. I sent a message and went to another bike to rent. There is a FAQ section on the app; however, it’s in Chinese and I haven’t had a chance to translate it.
If you finish your ride and the battery level is at one bar, the system will not show the scooter as available to rent after you park (I tested this out). I assume they have workers going around replacing batteries in situations like this. In fact, they recently had a promotion: If you changed the batteries when they were at 2 bars or less, you got a discount on the rental fee.
I used GoShare all last week. The one-way cost from home to work ranged from 18 to 25 NT. Although I initially just wanted to test the system, I’m continuing to use it as I feel 50NT/day is worth it to reduce air pollutants.
sounds like fun folks