Taoyuan expects to add 100 YouBike stations in the municipality by the end of this year as part of a long-term expansion of the bike rental system, Taoyuan Department of Transportation Director-general Chang Hsin-fu (張新福) said on Thursday.
That would bring the number of YouBike stations in Taoyuan to 517, Chang said at an administrative meeting during which he reported on the planning of additional YouBike stations and the phasing out of the YouBike 1.0 system.
In addition to adding another 100 stations by the end of this year, Taoyuan wants its YouBike network to have 750 stations by the end of 2028, Chang said.
Photo: Lee Jung-ping, Taipei Times
Taoyuan currently has 10,645 YouBikes, and there is a system in place at busy stations during peak hours where workers are on hand to replace bikes and free up parking slots, he said.
At the meeting, Taoyuan Mayor Simon Chang (張善政) asked the department and the city’s Department of Tourism to work together to enhance YouBike coverage at the city’s tourist hotspots while phasing out the YouBike 1.0 system by October.
The YouBike 2.0 system has a solar-powered control panel mounted on each bicycle, which could be used by scanning a QR code, and each dock would accommodate one bicycle instead of two.
The YouBike 1.0 system required users to rent the bike through a kiosk near the parking dock, or by swiping an Easycard over the sensor zone at the dock, and the docks accommodated two bicycles rather than one, a less energy-efficient arrangement, the system’s manufacturer said.
The locking system has also changed. Renters of 1.0 bikes have to keep the key when temporarily parking the bike on the side of the road, while for 2.0 bike users, the experience is keyless.
The new 2.0 system allows users to lock and unlock the bikes with an attached cylindrical key that users gain access to with an Easycard or by scanning the QR code on the control panel.
These changes seem to be boosting usage, Chang Hsin-fu said. YouBike 2.0 bicycles that are already in service are being used about five to six times every day, compared with two to 2.5 times a day for YouBike 1.0 vehicles.
The electric-assisted YouBike 2.0E, launched on Feb. 1 in Taoyuan, has the highest daily usage of all three types of bikes at seven to 10 times, he said.
The Taoyuan Department of Transportation said it started transiting from the 1.0 to the 2.0 version in November last year.
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