Starting on Jan. 1, YouBike riders must have insurance to use the service, and a six-month trial of NT$5 coupons under certain conditions would be implemented to balance bike shortages, a joint statement from transportation departments across Taipei, New Taipei City and Taoyuan announced yesterday.
The rental bike system operator said that coupons would be offered to riders to rent bikes from full stations, for riders who take out an electric-assisted bike from a full station, and for riders who return a bike to an empty station.
All riders with YouBike accounts are automatically eligible for the program, and each membership account can receive two coupons within 10 minutes, starting with the first coupon.
Photo: CNA
The coupons would be delivered to the account before 7am the next day and would be valid for 90 days, the operators said, adding that multiple coupons could be used, but cannot be gifted to others.
Taipei City Government Department of Transportation Division of Transportation Management head Hsieh Lin-ting (謝霖霆) said 90 percent of city rental bike users are insured, adding that noninsured users can purchase insurance through the government’s YouBike Web site.
Maximum payout for bone fractures, hospitalization, loss of function or death as a result of riding rental bikes can reach up to NT$1 million (US$31,982), while funeral expenses, or insurance payout for loss of bodily function as a result of accidents would be covered for riders younger than 15 Hsieh said.
Daily hospitalization payouts are capped at NT$1,000, Hsieh added.
New Taipei City Department of Transportation official Wu Cheng-yen (吳政諺) said users must match the registered rider for the insurance to pay out, adding that when parents lend their cards to their children, the insurance information should be up to date.
Taoyuan Department of Transportation Deputy Director-General Hsiung Chi-chung (熊啟中) said it is difficult to obtain or return bikes during peak hours and that the New Taipei City and Taipei city governments usually dispatch additional staff and trucks to ensure sufficient bikes in high-usage areas.
Users could help by returning bikes to empty stations, Hsiung said.
Taipei has 22,410 Version 2 (V2) bikes and 2,400 Version 2E (V2E) bikes, or electric-assisted bikes, across 1,708 stations, with 201,000 riders daily, government data showed.
New Taipei City has 21,379 V2 bikes and 2,100 V2E bikes across 1,506 stations with 130,000 to 150,000 riders daily. Taoyuan has 10,466 V2 bikes and 1,641 V2E bikes across 629 stations with 40,000 to 50,000 riders daily.
Considering that most countries issue more than five denominations of banknotes, the central bank has decided to redesign all five denominations, the bank said as it prepares for the first major overhaul of the banknotes in more than 24 years. Central bank Governor Yang Chin-lung (楊金龍) is expected to report to the Legislative Yuan today on the bank’s operations and the redesign’s progress. The bank in a report sent to the legislature ahead of today’s meeting said it had commissioned a survey on the public’s preferences. Survey results showed that NT$100 and NT$1,000 banknotes are the most commonly used, while NT$200 and NT$2,000
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday reported the first case of a new COVID-19 subvariant — BA.3.2 — in a 10-year-old Singaporean girl who had a fever upon arrival in Taiwan and tested positive for the disease. The girl left Taiwan on March 20 and the case did not have a direct impact on the local community, it said. The WHO added the BA.3.2 strain to its list of Variants Under Monitoring in December last year, but this was the first imported case of the COVID-19 variant in Taiwan, CDC Deputy Director-General Lin Ming-cheng (林明誠) said. The girl arrived in Taiwan on
ANNUAL EVENT: Two massive Pokemon balloons are to be set up in Daan Park, with an event zone operating from 10am to 6pm This year’s Taipei Floral Picnic is to be held at Daan Park today and tomorrow, featuring an exclusive Pokemon Go event, a themed food market, a coffee rave picnic area and stage performances, the Taipei Department of Information and Tourism said yesterday. Two massive Pokemon balloons are to be set up in the park as attractions, with an exclusive event zone operating from 10am to 6pm, it said. Participants who complete designated tasks on-site would have a chance to receive limited-edition souvenirs, it added. People could also try the newly launched game Pokemon Pokopia in the trial area, the department said. Three PokeStops are
South Korea is planning to revise its controversial electronic arrival card, a step Taiwanese officials said prompted them to hold off on planned retaliatory measures, a South Korean media report said yesterday. A Yonhap News Agency report said that the South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs is planning to remove the “previous departure place” and “next destination” fields from its e-arrival card system. The plan, reached after interagency consultations, is under review and aims to simplify entry procedures and align the electronic form with the paper version, a South Korean ministry official said. The fields — which appeared only on the electronic form
RSS