Public bicycle riders in Taipei and New Taipei City are to be insured free of charge starting on Friday.
Taipei-based Cathay Century Insurance on Monday won a bid to sell the New Taipei City Government third-party liability insurance for bike riders at a cost of NT$3.73 million (US$124,383).
The plan is to cover all 16,000 public bicycles in the city until the end of the year, the company said.
Earlier this month it won a similar bid from the Taipei City Government for the same coverage period.
Riders are to be insured should they harm another person while riding a public bike, the company said.
Compensation of up to NT$2 million is to be offered in the event of a third-party individual’s death or injury caused by a public bicyclist, it said.
Taipei has 13,000 public bikes in service, it added.
The service is being introduced at a time when local governments are promoting bike-sharing and cycling accidents are on the rise.
The number of traffic accidents caused by cyclists nationwide increased to 7,713 in 2014 from 5,113 in 2010, police data showed.
The number of people killed in such accidents increased to 53 in 2014 from 48 in 2010, while the number of people injured surged to 11,041 from 7,382 over the same period.
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