The obsession with scooters is by far the single biggest downer about Taiwan. Noisy, polluting, lethal to pedestrians. Scooter culture sucks.
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If those people were driving cars, they would be producing a lot more pollution, and how many pedestrians are killed by scooters here? Almost none Iâm sure.
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Scooters take up 1/5 the space of cars. Thank god for scooters. Electrification will also quiet them while continuing to take up less space. Cars are inefficient for single passengers.
China bans scooters/motorcycles and now they deal with 100km long traffic jams. lmao.
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Amazingly Japan survives without noisy scooters (except for pizza and ramen delivery).
Why?
Guy
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Japan is far less dense than Taiwan.
The difference is that Japan had a functioning state (not a kleptocracy) running the show.
The scooter culture here is based on a historic trade off.
TAIWAN STATE: We will provide no services for you! You are on your own!
TAIWAN INDIVIDUALS: What?!?
TAIWAN STATE: OK, we will also let you roar around and do whatever you like on the road, and park wherever you like.
TAIWAN INDIVIDUALS: OK.
Unlike @Marco I do not celebrate legacy of this unhappy trade off.
Guy
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I respectfully disagree. I like Taiwanâs freedom of choice in terms of getting around.
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I asked a japanese friend about this just recently, specifically about scooter situation in Tokyo, and what we came to agree is that in Tokyo there is just no place for you to park your scooter, police and fines and driving-license penalties for parking on places where you canât, and legal parking is expensive.
Sights like this one for example (an alley in Taipei), just donât exist in Tokyo.
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Freedom to roar around?
Sorry I disagree. If youâre running a business and need to get things done, I can understand. But that is not the case with the vast majority of the noisy polluting petro scooters on the roads.
Guy
Freedom to choose what works best for us, whether it be bike, car, scooter, foot, MRT, bus etcâŚ
You canât tell me what we have in Canada is BETTER?
5 scooters fit in the space of one car.
One scooter burns way less petrol than a car.
Two tonne cars carrying all that weight for a single 50-100kg personâŚ
Itâs affordable, accessible.
If the only problem is exhaust, that is already on its way to solving itself.
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OK Iâll make two concessions that some progress is being made, at least in the capital:
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More Gogoro and other quieter machines around.
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Individual who continue to use scooters are at least being charged to store these noisy petro machines when they park them in public spaces, instead of being able to leave them anywhere willy nilly with no consquences.
Thatâs all I will grant you. 
Guy
I want to hear your counterpoints though.
The past is the past. Now is here and now. Why remove scooters even after electrification?
Sorry Marco! I cannot keep up with your relentless defence of noisy petro scooters used casually by individuals.
I am on the other hand not as hostile to Gogoro and similar quieter machines provided they too pay their share should riders wish to park these machines in public spaces.
Weâll see where this goes . . .
Guy
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Do you really notice scooter noise? I donât hear any road noise inside buildings.
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Cars are as expensive, in fact moreso. Thats what led them to design tiny compact cars with pretty good interior design for space saving! I have always seen motocycles in japan, louder, faster and worse than scooters. But clearly it is nothing like taiwan.
Japans answer is make it expensive so that anyone that does use them contributes financially to the government.
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So what of the many millions not living in taipei? Does grandma need to walk 15km in the heat to buy grocereis cause there is no mrt, train or bus? If thats ok, do you think taipei and other regions should be classified differently an have different laws?
I get your point that the gov did a kind of youre on your own situation before. And i fully agree with marcos point of freedom. The sollution for today? Pollution taxes maybe? I mean AC units are probably as bad a dcooters for the environment, but we still are allowed that personal freedom if we pay the fee. I am not against raising the cost of electricity and gas, but we all know that will collapse taiwans export economy. Hence why tsai going towards sustainable energy is a very smart long term plan. There really is no other option currwntly available, but its long term.
Surely the worst things about a scooter cant be noiseâŚi think people that care more about noise than pollution, economy, freedom etc are all bit off, mentally. Too many people getting into others shit. I get it influences others. But its not city, its busy, loud, noisy and dirty as all hell. People, like me, that are sensitive to noise, light, smell, filth etc move somewhere cleaner and work from that.
I am all for developing better scooters though, dont get me wrong. But if there is a thought of banning outright, without a feasible plan b, get out of here, political suicide. I see it as already happening though. Electric scooters with subsidies available. I am more worried about the electrics requiring battery swap and no options for home charging. Thats a business scam limiting peoples freedom from the get go.
You want to know the real reason there are still so many horrible motor scooters everywhere ?
$$$
The big Taiwanese scooter companies still make a huge fortune in Taiwan and can effectively lobby the government and mobilise local support to make things favourable for them.
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Theyâre a nuisance. From what I see, the majority of the people using them are capable of following the rules. They drive on sidewalks terrorizing pedestrians, they go the wrong way on one way streets, they make unsafe lane changes, they park on the sidewalk where itâs not allowed.
Thatâs the scooterâs faultâŚhow?
If the majority of people who are using something are incapable of using it properly, causing harm to society, the reasonable and realistic thing to do is to look at getting rid of or more tightly regulating the thing. Thatâs how it works in the real world.
But yeah, if you want to have a pie in the sky hypothetical discussion disconnected from reality, we shouldnât get rid of or regulate anything people use because the object is never at fault. Applies to guns, brass knuckles, coal fired power plants, meth, BSL4 labs in China, etc.
Maybe we can just get rid of the people then?
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