A new YouBike bicycle rental station was opened yesterday in New Taipei City’s Sinjhuang District (新莊), bringing the total number of stations run by the bicycle-sharing service in the city to 200, the highest number among the four cities where YouBike operates.
The bicycle-sharing system was first introduced in Taipei on Nov. 30, 2012. The service was expanded to New Taipei City at the end of 2013, to Taichung in July last year and to Changhua in August last year.
According to a New Taipei City official, the 200 rental stations are located in 13 of New Taipei City’s 29 districts and the service — a collaboration between the city government and Taiwanese bicycle brand Giant — is set to be extended to Tamsui (淡水), Linkou (林口) and Sansia (三峽) in coming months.
The city’s goal is to have 300 rental stations with 8,000 bicycles for rent by the middle of next year, the official said.
Starting with 38 bicycles at a rental station in Sindian District (新店) in December 2013, the rental system in New Taipei City now offers 5,100 bicycles for rent at 200 stations.
The bicycle rental service has 5,000 bicycles at 150 stations in Taipei, 1,650 bicycles at 68 stations in Changhua and 1,500 bicycles at 60 stations in Taichung, according to statistics compiled by YouBike.
As of yesterday, bicycles had been rented more than 60 million times through the YouBike network since its launch, including 49.33 million times in Taipei, 5.31 million times in New Taipei City, 3.97 million times in Changhua and 1.96 million times in Taichung.
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