YouBike rentals will be free of charge for the first hour of usage today and tomorrow to compensate for the suspension of the public bicycle-sharing system’s services on Wednesday, the company said.
The offer will be available to users in the six cities and counties affected by the suspension — Taipei, New Taipei City, Hsinchu, Taoyuan, Taichung and Changhua.
The normal rental fee will take effect after an hour of usage, the company said.
Photo: CNA
As of 10am yesterday, 476 YouBike rental stations in the nation, including 291 in Taipei and New Taipei City, resumed operations, as a glitch in the system was being repaired, the company said.
The company said it would issue updates via its Web site and mobile app on the progress of repairs.
Users are advised to check in advance to see which bike stations are operational, the company said.
The glitch, caused by software damage during a system update, resulted in the malfunction of 17,317 rental stations in six counties and cities where 140,000 people regularly use YouBike, including about 100,000 in the Greater Taipei area.
Meanwhile, the company said it has revised its regulations to make it easier for YouBike users participating in an event called “Love Yourself, Love the Earth, Ride YouBike Everyday,” to enter a lottery that offers various prizes.
The lottery was open to people who rented YouBikes at least 11 days in a month, but that has been changed to at least 10 days last month, the company said.
The Taipei Department of Health yesterday said it has launched a probe into a restaurant at Far Eastern Sogo Xinyi A13 Department Store after a customer died of suspected food poisoning. A preliminary investigation on Sunday found missing employee health status reports and unsanitary kitchen utensils at Polam Kopitiam (寶林茶室) in the department store’s basement food court, the department said. No direct relationship between the food poisoning death and the restaurant was established, as no food from the day of the incident was available for testing and no other customers had reported health complaints, it said, adding that the investigation is ongoing. Later
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