Not sure for others but I can explain my reasoning for switching to a scooter in Taichung.
TLDR: Never had a private vehicle in Taiwan before, worsening bus service, felt like it finally made sense for me to get a scooter.
For some context I’ve been in Taichung for 5+ years and previously had always used public transportation and walking. When mentioning this to locals usually people think I’m nuts, but for the most part it worked out okay for me since the routes I needed to go where I need to go were convenient enough and going out to further places typically I got a ride with friends for hiking some places further away, going next town over to grab a bite to eat, etc.
The number one reason I switched is because the large number of reduction of bus service across many routes in Taichung city last year.
Last year many bus services were reduced during Summer because students were on break. Not all the services were returned to normal after Summer break was over. In August further reductions in bus service were made. The bus frequency reduction rate was about 15%. Then also after Summer last year 2 bus companies in Taichung went under causing further disruption to bus services.
For me, unfortunately this hit a bit hard and made things significantly more inconvenient/difficult as before when I could finish up work or whatever else I could get on bus after waiting about 10-15min., but now I have to wait an extra hour or two for some of my commutes if I’m lucky. If I need to be a few places in a day, depending on the route it can mean running from one bus stop to another because the next bus won’t be for another 1 or 2 hours.
For the MRT, unfortunately it’s been a slow process in Taichung while seemingly Taipei gets new lines fairly quickly. Taichung’s first line, a fully above ground line at that, took what about 20 years? Now the extension to that line has kind of stalled out a bit and the Blue line which will be partially underground was also stalled a bit until recently and will have to wait who knows how long. I enjoy taking the MRT when it fits my needs, but unfortunately that isn’t often enough.
Even without the reduction in services, riding the bus can be a bit exhausting at times because depending on the day or area typically means illegally parked vehicles either blocking the sidewalks (if there are any) or illegally parked in the bus stop forcing me and others into the roads to wave down a bus.
As for recreational, say hiking in Guguan for example, because the buses from Taichung city (#153 and #850) will go on the expressway that means the bus can’t have standing passengers while on the expressway so if there is no seat you can’t get on which means waiting 1 or 2 hours for the next bus, which also might not have a seat available.
For the scooter itself, originally I wanted a Gogoro, but after weighing out my needs/wants and how far I will be driving sometimes I felt like it didn’t fit the bill for me. Also having a lot of scooter shops near me is a plus and being able to just roll in whenever without having to set up an appointment before hand is nice. Also as far as I know Gogoro only has ABS on some 2 series models so not as many choices to look at. There were (still are?) issues with batteries and people suddenly losing power which is not something I want to risk if I’m further out or on a mountain road. So if I was just getting one vehicle then a gas scooter seemed more practical for my case. Also I would still have the same issue with noise, the wind, on higher speed roads.
In fact, for me an electric scooter would be the “fun toy” option as I really enjoy using GoShare or iRent scooters if I just need a quick ride to one place and can get some other way back (if it’s in the allowed “service range” in the case of GoShare, which typically isn’t the case for me).
As for cars, I’m single and live by myself so a car isn’t necessary at all for me unless I just want to take up more space.
I certainly wouldn’t be against the govt. tightening up the noise regulations either and trying to get stock vehicles to be quieter, but I don’t think my new stock scooter (stock exhaust) is as much of an issue compared to the all the illegally modified scooters running around town or sports cars being way too loud at 3am and flying down the straight away or even a stock sports/naked bike for example. I did ask a few friends if they thought my scooter was particularly loud and they thought it sounded pretty “normal” (well…whatever normal is which can certainly be a topic in of itself sometimes, as demonstrated by this very thread).
Fortunately at least the govt. is doing more of the noise camera systems to detect people way over the limit and ticket them and if I understand correctly also they have to report to the DMV to get a check up and see if their scooter will pass the legal noise limits.
As for driving. I follow the law and general basic safety. Worse thing I’ve done so far is accidentally hit the horn on my scooter a few times. I follow the speed limits (it’s Taichung so not really going to get anywhere much faster even if going a little over anyways with all the red lights), keep a safe distance, use turn signals, don’t illegally overtake on the right, don’t cross double whites/yellows, yield for pedestrians, etc. I’ve never illegally parked. Always park in a legal road side parking spot or a paid parking area. I’ve never went up on a sidewalk to get to those scooter parking spots they put on sidewalks
I still use public transportation a lot and my own legs. I’m not just a scooter user. I’m a multi-modal transportation user. I’ve lived in Taiwan with no private transportation ever since I came here and even now that I have my own vehicle (which I’ve been driving for only about 2 months) I still use bus services, I still use YouBike (a lot, I love YouBike!), and of course walking.
Unfortunately as a pedestrian though it feels like Taichung has been slow to make improvements such as safer pedestrian crossings, sidewalks and the like. Taichung has also seen quite an increase in bike casualties as well recently and I’ve almost been one of those quite a few times as well thanks to many cars.
) but the sights and the ride are wonderful.
bring together the Taichung riders club!
not like most people here even recognize how loud riding can be. I think I’m in a significant minority by riding with earplugs.
