Taipei City’s YouBike public bicycle system will adopt a progressive pricing scheme and a new regulation barring users from renting bicycles from the same station within 15 minutes of returning them, in an effort to solve the frequently reported problems of bike shortages during peak hours.
Currently, YouBike members can use the bikes for free for the first 30 minutes and pay NT$10 for every subsequent 30 minutes.
The pricing system has created a loophole that sees some users returning their bicycle before the free period expires and then immediately rent the same bike or another one to avoid paying for the service.
The practice has resulted in a shortage of bikes at popular rental stops, particularly those next to busy MRT stations.
Under the new regulations, which are to take effect on Oct. 1, users would have to wait 15 minutes after returning a bike before they can rent from the same station, said the Taipei City Government’s Department of Transportation, which manages the bicycle sharing system.
“However, after considering the possibility that users might have to rent a different bike in the event that the first one is found to be malfunctioning, we will allow them a five-minute window to return it and take another one from the same station,” the department said.
The department said for the first four hours the rental fee would remain NT$10 per half hour, but it would rise to NT$20 between four and eight hours and then jump to NT$30 after that.
After the new pricing system takes effect, users who rent a bicycle for 48 consecutive hours will have to pay NT$3,430, compared with NT$950 under the current system.
According to statistics provided by the department, only 5,600 out of 1.12 million users rented a bike for more than four consecutive hours last month.
The city has established 108 YouBike rental stations and aims raise the number to 173 stations by the end of this year.
“China is preparing to invade Taiwan,” Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu (吳志中) said in an exclusive interview with British media channel Sky News for a special report titled, “Is Taiwan ready for a Chinese invasion?” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said today in a statement. The 25-minute-long special report by Helen Ann-Smith released yesterday saw Sky News travel to Penghu, Taoyuan and Taipei to discuss the possibility of a Chinese invasion and how Taiwan is preparing for an attack. The film observed emergency response drills, interviewed baseball fans at the Taipei Dome on their views of US President
ECONOMIC BENEFITS: The imports from Belize would replace those from Honduras, whose shrimp exports have dropped 67 percent since cutting ties in 2023 Maintaining ties with Taiwan has economic benefits, Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials said yesterday, citing the approval of frozen whiteleg shrimp imports from Belize by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as an example. The FDA on Wednesday approved the tariff-free imports from Belize after the whiteleg shrimp passed the Systematic Inspection of Imported Food, which would continue to boost mutual trade, the ministry said. Taiwan’s annual consumption of whiteleg shrimps stands at 30,000 tonnes, far exceeding domestic production, the ministry said. Taiwan used to fill the gap by importing shrimps from Honduras, but purchases slumped after Tegucigalpa severed diplomatic ties with Taiwan
The Executive Yuan yesterday approved a southwestern extension of the Sanying MRT Line from New Taipei to Bade District (八德) in Taoyuan, with a goal of starting construction by late 2026. The 4.03-kilometer extension, featuring three new stations, will run from the current terminus at Yingtao Fude Station (LB12) in New Taipei City to Dannan Station (LB14), where it will connect with Taoyuan’s Green Line, New Taipei City Metro Corp said in a statement. This extension will follow the completion of core Sanying Line, a 14.29-kilometer medium-capacity system linking Tucheng (土城), Sansia (三峽)
CARGO LOSS: About 50 containers at the stern of the ‘Ever Lunar’ cargo ship went overboard, prompting the temporary closure of the port and disrupting operations Evergreen Marine Corp, Taiwan’s largest container shipper, yesterday said that all crew members aboard the Ever Lunar (長月) were safe after dozens of containers fell overboard off the coast of Peru the previous day. The incident occurred at 9:40am on Friday as the Ever Lunar was anchored and waiting to enter the Port of Callao when it suddenly experienced severe rolling, Evergreen said in a statement. The rolling, which caused the containers to fall, might have been caused by factors including a tsunami triggered by an earthquake in Russia, poor winter sea conditions in South America or a sudden influx of waves,
RSS