People riding their bikes in the hallways

I am not one who always follows the rules. I am a fairly unconventional person and enjoy Taiwan for that reason. You can get away with a lot of stuff here that would be unthinkable in North American or British culture.

But there are a few things that baffle me in this country and one of them is; Taiwanses insist on riding their bikes out of the elevator, through the hallway and into the lobby of our busy aparment complex, and out through the equally busy lobby doors. :ponder:

This goes on all the time in my apartment complex, which is built on a pedestrian mall. So yes, the Taiwanese figure it is their God-given right to ride their bikes through the mall, too. And we should all stand aside or look over our shoulders and move out of their way, which I refuse to do.

A few times I have stood in the way of adult cyclists who will not get off their bikes or stop for any reason. It’s pretty obvious that they see riding a bike as the same as walking and we should just get out of their way. You should see the look on their face when I refuse to move until they dismount and walk out of the lobby or mall. :eh:

The street is only a short distance from the mall, but instead of walking their bikes through the lobby/mall area, they ride their bikes, swerving around the throngs of people.

A couple of times I told the kids to get off their bikes and walk out of the lobby but they just look at me as if I am an idiot. Of course, their parents don’t walk their bikes so why should they?

I could understand riding through the pedestrian mall when it is not busy. But launching yourself out of the elevator and through the lobby, riding blindly through the doors and out into the mall? They just expect people to dodge out of the way and it baffles me.

Perhaps this is a very small problem in the broader scheme of things but maybe someone could tell me why the Taiwanese insist on doing this? :loco:

It’s how people drive and walk on this side of the world; why would you expect the bike-riding attitude to be any different?

I am always fascinated by how locals ride their motorscooters through crowded day markets and how no one seems to mind.

C’mon, admit it. We’ve all wanted to be Batman driving the Batmobile out of the Batcave.

I wanted to be Michael Knight and drive Kit into the support truck .
I could drive a scooter onto a blue truck, it could be a beautiful thing. :slight_smile:

Used to have the problem of people, particularly young children, cycling around the communal areas of the community I live in. One day a kid ran into a pedestrian and the pedestrian was carted off to hospital, the management company put up pictures of him the next day with a huge bandage and a walking frame…and the comment that compensation discussions were ongoing, nobody cycles around the community anymore…

I can’t cycle through such short stretch at all… it’s hard to control the bike at such slow speed.

I dunno about sidewalks, I bike on them because everyone else seems to do it, and there aren’t any clear rules on if it’s acceptable because it almost looks like bikes are considered pedestrians and the police hasn’t stopped me at all. The problem with cycling on the street is that cars and especially buses do not notice you at all and will come within 2 inch of hitting you all the time… I do not feel safe riding on the side of a street at all. Zhongshan N. Rd. is bad because there are a bunch of buses crowded around that narrow 2 lane partition, not to mention a bunch of illegally parked and stopped vehicles turning that 2 lane into one lane.

Cycling seems to make some people psycho. We have those people here too.

I was walking my cat at our apt complex here in california in our enclosed garden area. The area is the center of the complex and includes a well kept pool area and two pathways. Cars and scoots can not access the pathways. They are for people to walk on.

I have seen some small children riding bikes on occasion on these paths, but there was this adult that did that too.

Got rude with me when I mentioned he should at least walk his bike on the path.

And of course our cyclists on the whole ride on either side of the street, on walkways, where-ever they please. Almost never stop for stop lights, not to mention stop signs. etc etc etc.