So I guess you gotta have insurance for Youbike now… not sure how this works. I tried to rent a Youbike today in New Taipei and saw a message telling me that I could not take one because my card was not insured. However, I had no problem using it prior in Taipei City and later again in Taipei City. Here’s a link about the insurance.
https://english.dot.gov.taipei/News_Content.aspx?n=3C4F5FC3FD2929A0&s=2EB6CB7F53C1102B
That for the electric YouBike, right?
Just open the YouBike app and choose “Get Insured” in the menu. Then, enter your ARC number (not sure if passport number might also work) and that should be it!
Thanks, I’ll go ahead and do that. But I still don’t get what the deal is with Taipei City… why do they let me use it there and not in New Taipei or Taoyuan?
And to answer the other question, it’s not for the new electric ones. I haven’t even given one of those a try yet. It’s for Youbike 2.0… I think by now all the 1.0s have been replaced.
Because Hou You Ih is a special brand of dumb. How is this not public knowledge yet?
All the more reason why I believe that Taipei City is the best place to live! lol…
Plus living in New Taipei is like living in Jersey. Sure, it might be kinda nice, but you’re still living in Jersey and you gotta bridge or tunnel your way into the city.
…and the road is always jammed 
It works.
But why is it a bad thing that New Taipei/Taoyuan force you to have the insurance? It is free, takes like 5 mins to register for, and offers great benefits to the rider if they have an accident. When I was hit by a scooter whilst on a YouBike, I had to pay out of pocket ($4000 something I think) because the bike was broken and I didn’t have that insurance. I sure wish they had forced me to have the insurance then.
yeah, getting hit by another vehicle whilst Youbiking is a major pain in the ass. It happened to me about 6 years ago, just a couple days before I was going home for Christmas… Thankfully I was not injured, but the bike was crushed under a car, someone taking a left turn at a crosswalk. It was a mother distracted by her kids. She felt awful about the whole thing. The husband came, gave me $1000 NT cash and bought me some beer and ice. Ambulance came and checked me out… I was fine. They realized it was a waste of time, I never asked for the ambulance.
Biggest pain in the ass was that I was not able to use Youbike until about at least 2 months later, because they had to process the claim. I didn’t have to pay anything because the woman driving was 100% at fault.
It took them 6 years?..
Yep, you can’t rent a bike unless insured. I changed my card registration recently and the nice clerk that helped me fill out the app application - awesome! Fast! Simple! - told me so. Very different from back in the day. 
I don’t know how you misunderstood this… the incident happened over 6 years ago, but it took at least 2 months to be resolved. So in December 2018, it happened and I wasn’t able to use Youbike again until February 2019, capiche?
apparently not the case in Taipei City…
Well, maybe I should sleep. 
Looks obvious when I read it again.
yes, quite obvious.
I would even argue that it’s bad that Taipei doesn’t make you get the insurance.
I think this was brought in because of the electric bikes. Ditto the new “points off the license”/ usage denial system (that seems stricter than action taken against other motorists). Makes sense in a way, because electric bikes are obviously inherently more dangerous. May also have been affected by attempts to close the electric bike loophole being exploited (justifiably imo) by migrant workers.
How are migrant workers exploiting the electric bike loophole? And what exactly is the electric bike loophole?