Since Taipei ended the YouBike 1.0 public bicycle sharing service on Dec. 3 last year, there are now only rental stations for the new 2.0 system in the city.
If residents of New Taipei City mistakenly ride the older system’s bikes to Taipei, they have no stations to return the bikes to. Initially, asking a system operator to return a bike incurred a fee of NT$350 (US$11.49).
However, Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) and the newly elected city council abolished the fee after taking office on Dec. 25. Now, charges are only applied to the rental duration and time to return the bike to New Taipei City.
YouBike Co posted a record-high annual revenue of NT$360 million last year. It can easily absorb the cost of scrapping the transfer fee.
However, the fees that were collected during the month after the new system came into effect should also be refunded.
According to Taipei Department of Transportation data, at least 10 calls have been received every day asking for assistance to transfer bicycles of the old system, with most of the callers being residents of New Taipei City.
This number is certainly a big underestimate. Many more people must have quietly ridden their bikes back to New Taipei City to avoid paying the fee, causing them to waste their time and delay their itineraries.
A conservative estimate of 10 people per day brings the total amount overcharged during that month to in excess of NT$100,000.
The operator should take the initiative to return all the money to those affected, and the Taipei City Government should not use the relatively small amount owed to each person as an excuse for not doing the right thing.
The connection between Taipei and New Taipei City has evidently been less than seamless.
Now that former Taipei mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲), who loves to talk about standard operating procedures, has left office, his “do what you have to do” policy of charging a transfer fee has been reversed.
With a new mayor in Taipei, New Taipei City now has new opportunities for cooperation with its neighbor, and scrapping the YouBike transfer fee would be a good step.
Chen Chang-jih
Taipei
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