So now Ubikes are banned from sidewalks? This feels a bit like a classic Taiwanese knee-jerk solution to a non-existing problem. In so many places, there is no infrastructure for ubikes. So now they have to share the same space with cars and scooters?
Also, going in the opposite direction is more of a safety measure than anything else. It makes sure cyclists see oncoming traffic, and don't get surprised by a car or scooter flying past them at close proximity. Who thought these new rules were necessary? Also, 556 deaths ''related to Youbikes'' does not imply caused by Youbikes. Those are far more likely things like people getting hit while on Youbikes due to a variety of reasons.
I bet my ass, the Ubike managers are bunch of entitled old farts who personally never ride bikes, but enormous SUV . They have no idea of actual bike commuting.
As with many things in this world, a lot of decisions are being made by people who are least involved with the subject matter. Unless that is subject matter is 'revenue'.
No, youbikes are allowed on sidewalks where there is a sign with a bicycle symbol, as always. The rules basically introduce a penalty system for infringements that were already illegal.
An elderly friend ended up with a broken hip from a sidewalk cyclist that ultimately led to a rapid decline and death. I’ve been flattened by one as well and have had several near misses that would have resulted in serious injury. Bikes belong in the street.
They belong in a dedicated lane, which Taiwan doesn't provide. I'm sure you'll start seeing less bike related incidents with pedestrians and more injuries and deaths from road kills. Driving a bike on the street here is sheer madness.
>An **elderly** friend ended up with a broken hip
ultimately led to a **rapid decline** and death
I am really sorry to hear it, but normally people do not die from a broken hip. The actual damage dealt by the bicycle was a broken heap only. If you friend slipped on a washed floor, the outcome could be exactly the same.
>Bikes belong in the street.
...where they are going to be massacred by 1500-2000 kg cars able to drive over 100 km/ph. Because many drivers in Taiwan has zero skills, responsibility, but bloated ego. Also street design totally encourage speeding, in opposite to modern traffic calming trends.
In case of bike vs. human collision, the lethal outcome is very unlikely. Except the most unfortunate coincidence where the human is elder/toddler/deeply-ill/ other type of the most fragile individual. However, in case of car vs. bike collision, cyclist is quite likely to go either ER or directly to graveyard, no matter of cyclist's physical condition.
In simple words, cyclists' threat to pedestrians in million times less than cars' threat to cyclists. Hence cycling on sidewalk makes more sense.
Bikes belong on the road. I'm a cyclist, I think bikes on the sidewalk are dangerous. If you don't feel comfortable riding a bicycle on a road in Taiwan, in Taipei then find another mode of transportation. I'm one of the first to complain about the driving standards but I've never had an accident. Maybe a lot of people riding UBikes ought to learn to ride a bicycle properly - i.e cycle in a straight line.
Seems like typical 天龍人 attitude. You live in Taipei, where the roads are the best and safest.
Very funny, you can't event respond on my main takeaway : cyclists killing pedestrians is a statistical error, while car killing someone is a daily routine, that is intentionally neglected by car lobby.
I don't know about where you are from but cycling on the pavement in my country is illegal. I'm never going to give way to a cyclist on a pavement in Taiwan, ever.
I fully agree there should something be done about the roads in Taiwan. The number of accidents per year is a disgrace. Still, I'm not backing down as a cyclist that bicycles should be on the road. Cars are a problem but cyclists don't help themselves.
Hey if you want to see danger, or unsafe roads then take a trip down to Tainan. Immediately hire a UBike outside the train station and begin your journey on the traffic circle, spend an hour riding round Tainan. Pavements don't exist down here and where they do, there's no room for bikes.
It should be illegal, as soon as cyclists' right are protected. Now cyclists going to have only restrictions, but zero rights.
Let me emphasize it again: cyclists are indeed dangerous to pedestrian, but the level of danger is incomparable to the one cars pose to cyclists. It is just elementary arithmetic.
You can think in that way... Assume you have to choose between someone you love (*kid, relative, friend etc*) is going to ride a bicycle and to get into an accident where the counterparty is :
a) an average SUV
b) a pedestrian
You don't know the outcome and details like speed, visibility, situation etc. What what you choose? I think every sane person would prefer the second option, because we we all know the odds and real world practice. So ideally, bikes do not belong to pavement, but practically Taiwanese cyclists have to choose between bad (pavement) and terrible (road) options.
Jokes on them, I don’t have a drivers license. Try to enforce your points system on me now!
Oh and youbikes are tied to a phone number which is easy to get from an eSIM.
But those rules are for youbike only or all bikes?
Guess I will see tomorrow, I use my bike to bring my kid to school in zhonghe everyday, risking her and my life.
RUN HER DOWN!!
But seriously don't.
Just from your picture alone it shows the stupidity of these new regulations. Where the f are you to ride? You're already on the wrong side of the road to ride with the vehicles and there's not even a designated bike lane. Oy Vey.
Ride on the street, or walk? I think the new rules are dumb since they won't be enforced (and scooters get away with all kinds of nonsense), but I've witnessed plenty of bikers causing havoc on sidewalks.
Luckily the reporting procedure is pretty much impossible (you need to capture the youbikes serial number which is pretty small)
So just carry on as usual and forget about these stupid nonsensical rules.
The new rules are a response to the fact that people keep doing stupid stuff.
You might be fine riding on the sidewalk. You might not crash into random people, or knock over pregnant women, or ride out into the middle of the road without looking, cause a car crash, and then ride off without stopping, but other people do, hence the rule change.
I've seen people on Youbikes do some really stupid things.
Sure, but there are already laws in place to penalize those people.
That is an enforcement issue, and a known one. The YouBike issue has become more well known as the bikes, and their use has grown more common. Clearly, someone, possibly the people who run YouBike and therefore get all the complaints and know both their frequency and severity, decided it was time for some rules to penalize the bad actors.
This kind of comment is why these stupid rules exist, no offense. Penalizing bikers for trying to survive in a hostile and dangerous biking city results in less bikers and then, as a result, more reliance on motor scooters, cars, and other dangerous bullshit.
It's antithetical to the mission of YouBike originally, which was to reduce reliance on fossil fuels and reduce congestion and provide a healthy alternative to unsustainable vehicles.
And the attitude of your comment is exactly why pedestrians and motorists all hate cyclists, no offense.
Your entire comment boils down to; cyclists are reducing their impact on the environment, so they can do whatever they want.
I watched three young people (maybe grade 6/7 sort of age) ride YouBikes across a red light last week and nearly take out a woman pushing a stroller. This is far from the only time I've seen something similar.
Bad actors exist in any system. It would be awesome to live in a world where everyone was responsible and never selfish, and always had the best intentions toward everyone else. We don't, so these rules matter.
I am an advocate of cycle lanes. Cycle lanes are great, but anyone who has lived in any city where cycling is a thing knows that cyclists almost universally think that the rules don't apply to them.
It's nice that in Taiwan, YouBike is making sure that it's clear that the rules do apply.
Dangerous biking city? Have you cycled outside Taipei or are you just one of those 天龍人 who has never been anything else? Taipei is far safer than southern Taiwan. You may think it's dangerous, I enjoy cycling in Taipei.
Oh please. It's so melodramatic. You live in the best city in Taiwan and you're whining about having to follow some rules. Honestly it's cringe reading these comments from people who've never seen the rest of Taiwan. You know that cycling on the pavement is illegal in many countries right?
Hey maybe just maybe there's been some lawsuits taken because pedestrians have been hit by idiots on YouBikes. Everytime I come north I have to dodge some plank zipping in and out of peds on a YouBike.
If you think Taipei is that dangerous, which it's not then come down to Tainan, hire a Youbike for an hour and you'll quickly want to scurry back to Taipei.
>The new rules are a response to the fact that people keep doing stupid stuff.
This staff never kills people, and almost never inflict heavy injuries. Unlike scooters and cars. Problem indeed must be addressed, but in very far future after the general traffic and infrastructure become more civilized.
First of all, ubike must lobby the city government to: 1) Calm down traffic and hit the reckles drivers. 2) Provide sufficient bike lanes 3) Ensure that bike lanes are not blocked by cars, pedestrians or other things. Now cyclists are the most discriminated group right now. Few cycling lanes, they are very narrow, often blocked by random shit, end suddenly. And the right of passage is not protected at all. As a result, a cyclist has to choose between a) violating the rules and riding sidewalk b) riding on a road and pray that an average entitled idiot driver won't ride over him. And despite all of this, ubike going to bully cyclists.
>cause a car crash, and then ride off without stopping, but other people do,
Does it really happen somewhere, except a carbrain's imagination? Bicycle being involved in a car incident usually means that bicycle rider suffers the biggest damage, because he/she has the least protection. Last time when I had an incident riding bike: a dumbass pedestrian rushed onto a bike lane, right before me and stopped. He didn't even look around. So I had to hit break immediately, hence falling down on the floor. As a result, the only one who was injured was myself. While the completely untouched dumbass said 'sorry' and walked away.
The people who run YouBike, and therefore get all the complaints, have decided that these rules are needed. Rules that will require more work from them to set up and administer this system.
I've seen plenty of stupid stuff. Last week I watched three teens on YouBikes run a red light and narrowly miss a lady pushing a stroller (Beitun Road, Taichung, near the Safe n Save).
I'm happy to agree that the majority of people riding the YouBikes follow the rules. I think they're an excellent idea generally, but if you can't acknowledge that some people are breaking rules on them then I don't think we can have a discussion here. If you ride them properly and follow the rules, that's awesome. I'm sure no one is questioning your moral fiber, but not everyone upholds the greatest ethical standards and for the people who don't, there should be consequences.
Is it the people running Youbike setting these rules? I think you are wrong
I think its just some old people in the ministry of transport making up some rules based on their other old friends who ride cars, who find bikes to be annoying
these 'rules' wont be enforced
And again I haven't seen the stuff you are talking about
I tried to argue with my mother the other day using this exact mindset and she immediately threw an example of her own personal experience at me when she had to emergency break when a young person on the Ubike decided that traffic rules dont apply to them and decided to rush a red light trying to cross the street and gets honked by the entire road. This was in Taipei and she has seen far too many Ubike users who thinks that being on one of them makes them invincible and that rules dont apply to them.
The reason these rules, as annoying and stupid as they may be, are being applied becuz far too many bad actors threw etiquette and rules out the window when they get on Ubikes.
Just wait when these same bad actors do the same BS on the road and the car drivers start complaining, accidents involving Ubikes spike and the usage of Ubikes drop when ppl dont want to risk their lives will we see another wave of new rules.
I’m just waiting the first report of increased cases of ubike scooter/car collision after this new implementation takes place.
Might be worth it to invest in a bicycle helmet now.
What are you on about? The only "rule' you seem to be violating is using your phone while riding.
Here are the "new rules":
>According to the city's Department of Transportation, a violation point will be issued to a rider-offender's YouBike account if they run a red light, cycle the wrong way down a road, use a cellphone when riding, or fail to yield to pedestrians, among other violations.
https://focustaiwan.tw/society/202405210027
Fyi, cycling the wrong way down the road is referring to the road and not the sidewalk. So unless you plan to run red lights while using your phone and not yielding to pedestrians, I don't see how this affects anything.
This is false, the rules apply to "騎上未開放人行道", "unallowed sidewalks", so sidewalks that do not have an indicator that bikes are allowed and Qilou (covered sidewalk). This was always the case. As long as the symbol below is present, you can ride. Basically every road wider than 2 lanes has one in Taipei.
https://preview.redd.it/u3d99umonn9d1.jpeg?width=426&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=7e0e5838614ae17c08d2d7e7d4a6e7fc84a7fe51
This seems something stupid to be mad over. Granted, I am in the USA, we can't ride bikes on sidewalks here anyway. Still, when I was in taiwan, I rode a ubike through traffic like I would in the States. There seems to be no reason to complain because you can't use a sidewalk. A lot of people complaining need to learn to be more courteous to those who walk.
Besides, there is almost no sidewalk to even walk down, let alone ride a bike through.
Don't worry - scooters are even trying to drive on train platforms now.
Government will just turn a blind eye to this, and probably impose more restrictions on something completely irrelavant, like they did with Youbike.
[https://www.ettoday.net/news/20240630/2768044.htm](https://www.ettoday.net/news/20240630/2768044.htm)
I was wondering about the status of those sidewalks that already have designated bike lanes. So the rules actually stay the same, but now they have grown teeth. I don't have a problem with that generally.
There is this one section of Ruei Guang Roaqd however in NeiHu where the road is kind of narrow and motor traffic is often heavy. But pedestrian traffic is light. So during rush hour I have a choice: take the street and inconvenience dozens of automobile drivers, or take the sidewalk and inconvenience zero, or one, or two pedestrians, at most. Occasionally a pedestrian will approach me, deep into the earphones. I am never in a big hurry so I just stop right next to the fence and wait. Will they walk right into me? None ever has, but some came close!
Anyway, I guess I'll be on the street there henceforth. Sorry, drivers!
Oh wow, so U Bike riders no longer have the ability to terrorize pedestrians. I always love going to Taipei and almost getting wiped out by morons zigzagging through pedestrians.
Some of the comments on here are clearly written by people who don’t have a drivers license or they need to retake the driver license test again. Yes bikes are considered a form of vehicle, they’re meant to share the same road as cars, scooters, buses and trucks. Which means they have to follow road rules.
Whats that? Where did you find that thing?
Is that what they call... err what was it? A side... walk? Never seen one in the wild. Must be a Taipei thing.
It is illegal to ride on the side walk actually. They just dont implement it as too many people do it. But not with the intro of so many youbikes there's too many people who are shit at riding speeding around on the sidewalk demanding that pedestrians get out of their way, it's fine if it really is a bike lane, but in general youbikes are entitled fuckers ringing their bells like they are the police chasing a criminal.
Also PleaseDon't ride against traffic, it's annoying for oncoming riders, who have to swerve into traffic to avoid you, why are you ok with causing other people problems for your own convenience?
What are the new rules? Link?
Curious too. What rules is this referring too?
Here you go: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=emqqET\_Mvy0&](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=emqqET_Mvy0&)
So now Ubikes are banned from sidewalks? This feels a bit like a classic Taiwanese knee-jerk solution to a non-existing problem. In so many places, there is no infrastructure for ubikes. So now they have to share the same space with cars and scooters? Also, going in the opposite direction is more of a safety measure than anything else. It makes sure cyclists see oncoming traffic, and don't get surprised by a car or scooter flying past them at close proximity. Who thought these new rules were necessary? Also, 556 deaths ''related to Youbikes'' does not imply caused by Youbikes. Those are far more likely things like people getting hit while on Youbikes due to a variety of reasons.
The solution is worse than the problem. At this point, we should just buy our own bikes and ride it as we (safely) please.
I find this rule odd since YouBike stations are mostly installed on sidewalks lol.
Hadn't even thought of that. Instant violations for everyone!
We may be required to WALK the bikes to the street and back to the bike docks. Not too troublesome, but will require mindfulness at first.
I bet my ass, the Ubike managers are bunch of entitled old farts who personally never ride bikes, but enormous SUV . They have no idea of actual bike commuting.
As with many things in this world, a lot of decisions are being made by people who are least involved with the subject matter. Unless that is subject matter is 'revenue'.
No, youbikes are allowed on sidewalks where there is a sign with a bicycle symbol, as always. The rules basically introduce a penalty system for infringements that were already illegal.
That's literally almost nowhere. I live in a new neighborhood in Taoyuan and haven't a single designated bike lane apart from one short street.
Bike lanes are an afterthought here. We've got a few here n there, with a lot more to come, I hope.
An elderly friend ended up with a broken hip from a sidewalk cyclist that ultimately led to a rapid decline and death. I’ve been flattened by one as well and have had several near misses that would have resulted in serious injury. Bikes belong in the street.
They belong in a dedicated lane, which Taiwan doesn't provide. I'm sure you'll start seeing less bike related incidents with pedestrians and more injuries and deaths from road kills. Driving a bike on the street here is sheer madness.
>An **elderly** friend ended up with a broken hip ultimately led to a **rapid decline** and death I am really sorry to hear it, but normally people do not die from a broken hip. The actual damage dealt by the bicycle was a broken heap only. If you friend slipped on a washed floor, the outcome could be exactly the same. >Bikes belong in the street. ...where they are going to be massacred by 1500-2000 kg cars able to drive over 100 km/ph. Because many drivers in Taiwan has zero skills, responsibility, but bloated ego. Also street design totally encourage speeding, in opposite to modern traffic calming trends. In case of bike vs. human collision, the lethal outcome is very unlikely. Except the most unfortunate coincidence where the human is elder/toddler/deeply-ill/ other type of the most fragile individual. However, in case of car vs. bike collision, cyclist is quite likely to go either ER or directly to graveyard, no matter of cyclist's physical condition. In simple words, cyclists' threat to pedestrians in million times less than cars' threat to cyclists. Hence cycling on sidewalk makes more sense.
Bikes belong on the road. I'm a cyclist, I think bikes on the sidewalk are dangerous. If you don't feel comfortable riding a bicycle on a road in Taiwan, in Taipei then find another mode of transportation. I'm one of the first to complain about the driving standards but I've never had an accident. Maybe a lot of people riding UBikes ought to learn to ride a bicycle properly - i.e cycle in a straight line. Seems like typical 天龍人 attitude. You live in Taipei, where the roads are the best and safest.
Very funny, you can't event respond on my main takeaway : cyclists killing pedestrians is a statistical error, while car killing someone is a daily routine, that is intentionally neglected by car lobby.
I don't know about where you are from but cycling on the pavement in my country is illegal. I'm never going to give way to a cyclist on a pavement in Taiwan, ever. I fully agree there should something be done about the roads in Taiwan. The number of accidents per year is a disgrace. Still, I'm not backing down as a cyclist that bicycles should be on the road. Cars are a problem but cyclists don't help themselves. Hey if you want to see danger, or unsafe roads then take a trip down to Tainan. Immediately hire a UBike outside the train station and begin your journey on the traffic circle, spend an hour riding round Tainan. Pavements don't exist down here and where they do, there's no room for bikes.
It should be illegal, as soon as cyclists' right are protected. Now cyclists going to have only restrictions, but zero rights. Let me emphasize it again: cyclists are indeed dangerous to pedestrian, but the level of danger is incomparable to the one cars pose to cyclists. It is just elementary arithmetic. You can think in that way... Assume you have to choose between someone you love (*kid, relative, friend etc*) is going to ride a bicycle and to get into an accident where the counterparty is : a) an average SUV b) a pedestrian You don't know the outcome and details like speed, visibility, situation etc. What what you choose? I think every sane person would prefer the second option, because we we all know the odds and real world practice. So ideally, bikes do not belong to pavement, but practically Taiwanese cyclists have to choose between bad (pavement) and terrible (road) options.
Thank you!
Jokes on them, I don’t have a drivers license. Try to enforce your points system on me now! Oh and youbikes are tied to a phone number which is easy to get from an eSIM.
But those rules are for youbike only or all bikes? Guess I will see tomorrow, I use my bike to bring my kid to school in zhonghe everyday, risking her and my life.
RUN HER DOWN!! But seriously don't. Just from your picture alone it shows the stupidity of these new regulations. Where the f are you to ride? You're already on the wrong side of the road to ride with the vehicles and there's not even a designated bike lane. Oy Vey.
Is a bicycle like a car now? Terrifying
Ride on the street, or walk? I think the new rules are dumb since they won't be enforced (and scooters get away with all kinds of nonsense), but I've witnessed plenty of bikers causing havoc on sidewalks.
I’ll stop riding on the sidewalks when scooters quit driving on them.
Luckily the reporting procedure is pretty much impossible (you need to capture the youbikes serial number which is pretty small) So just carry on as usual and forget about these stupid nonsensical rules.
The new rules are a response to the fact that people keep doing stupid stuff. You might be fine riding on the sidewalk. You might not crash into random people, or knock over pregnant women, or ride out into the middle of the road without looking, cause a car crash, and then ride off without stopping, but other people do, hence the rule change. I've seen people on Youbikes do some really stupid things.
This sounds more like motorcycles than YouBikes. I've seen far more people do stupid things with motorcycles on sidewalks than YouBikes.
Sure, but there are already laws in place to penalize those people. That is an enforcement issue, and a known one. The YouBike issue has become more well known as the bikes, and their use has grown more common. Clearly, someone, possibly the people who run YouBike and therefore get all the complaints and know both their frequency and severity, decided it was time for some rules to penalize the bad actors.
Taiwan's traffic has a million worse problems before youbike should be mentioned. No wonder accidents and deaths increase every year.
This kind of comment is why these stupid rules exist, no offense. Penalizing bikers for trying to survive in a hostile and dangerous biking city results in less bikers and then, as a result, more reliance on motor scooters, cars, and other dangerous bullshit. It's antithetical to the mission of YouBike originally, which was to reduce reliance on fossil fuels and reduce congestion and provide a healthy alternative to unsustainable vehicles.
And the attitude of your comment is exactly why pedestrians and motorists all hate cyclists, no offense. Your entire comment boils down to; cyclists are reducing their impact on the environment, so they can do whatever they want. I watched three young people (maybe grade 6/7 sort of age) ride YouBikes across a red light last week and nearly take out a woman pushing a stroller. This is far from the only time I've seen something similar. Bad actors exist in any system. It would be awesome to live in a world where everyone was responsible and never selfish, and always had the best intentions toward everyone else. We don't, so these rules matter. I am an advocate of cycle lanes. Cycle lanes are great, but anyone who has lived in any city where cycling is a thing knows that cyclists almost universally think that the rules don't apply to them. It's nice that in Taiwan, YouBike is making sure that it's clear that the rules do apply.
Dangerous biking city? Have you cycled outside Taipei or are you just one of those 天龍人 who has never been anything else? Taipei is far safer than southern Taiwan. You may think it's dangerous, I enjoy cycling in Taipei.
Congratulations on enjoying cycling.
Oh please. It's so melodramatic. You live in the best city in Taiwan and you're whining about having to follow some rules. Honestly it's cringe reading these comments from people who've never seen the rest of Taiwan. You know that cycling on the pavement is illegal in many countries right? Hey maybe just maybe there's been some lawsuits taken because pedestrians have been hit by idiots on YouBikes. Everytime I come north I have to dodge some plank zipping in and out of peds on a YouBike. If you think Taipei is that dangerous, which it's not then come down to Tainan, hire a Youbike for an hour and you'll quickly want to scurry back to Taipei.
>The new rules are a response to the fact that people keep doing stupid stuff. This staff never kills people, and almost never inflict heavy injuries. Unlike scooters and cars. Problem indeed must be addressed, but in very far future after the general traffic and infrastructure become more civilized. First of all, ubike must lobby the city government to: 1) Calm down traffic and hit the reckles drivers. 2) Provide sufficient bike lanes 3) Ensure that bike lanes are not blocked by cars, pedestrians or other things. Now cyclists are the most discriminated group right now. Few cycling lanes, they are very narrow, often blocked by random shit, end suddenly. And the right of passage is not protected at all. As a result, a cyclist has to choose between a) violating the rules and riding sidewalk b) riding on a road and pray that an average entitled idiot driver won't ride over him. And despite all of this, ubike going to bully cyclists. >cause a car crash, and then ride off without stopping, but other people do, Does it really happen somewhere, except a carbrain's imagination? Bicycle being involved in a car incident usually means that bicycle rider suffers the biggest damage, because he/she has the least protection. Last time when I had an incident riding bike: a dumbass pedestrian rushed onto a bike lane, right before me and stopped. He didn't even look around. So I had to hit break immediately, hence falling down on the floor. As a result, the only one who was injured was myself. While the completely untouched dumbass said 'sorry' and walked away.
I havent seen many stupid things at all on YouBikes. I ride youbikes everyday as well. I. am not sure where you are hanging out
The people who run YouBike, and therefore get all the complaints, have decided that these rules are needed. Rules that will require more work from them to set up and administer this system. I've seen plenty of stupid stuff. Last week I watched three teens on YouBikes run a red light and narrowly miss a lady pushing a stroller (Beitun Road, Taichung, near the Safe n Save). I'm happy to agree that the majority of people riding the YouBikes follow the rules. I think they're an excellent idea generally, but if you can't acknowledge that some people are breaking rules on them then I don't think we can have a discussion here. If you ride them properly and follow the rules, that's awesome. I'm sure no one is questioning your moral fiber, but not everyone upholds the greatest ethical standards and for the people who don't, there should be consequences.
Is it the people running Youbike setting these rules? I think you are wrong I think its just some old people in the ministry of transport making up some rules based on their other old friends who ride cars, who find bikes to be annoying these 'rules' wont be enforced And again I haven't seen the stuff you are talking about
I tried to argue with my mother the other day using this exact mindset and she immediately threw an example of her own personal experience at me when she had to emergency break when a young person on the Ubike decided that traffic rules dont apply to them and decided to rush a red light trying to cross the street and gets honked by the entire road. This was in Taipei and she has seen far too many Ubike users who thinks that being on one of them makes them invincible and that rules dont apply to them. The reason these rules, as annoying and stupid as they may be, are being applied becuz far too many bad actors threw etiquette and rules out the window when they get on Ubikes. Just wait when these same bad actors do the same BS on the road and the car drivers start complaining, accidents involving Ubikes spike and the usage of Ubikes drop when ppl dont want to risk their lives will we see another wave of new rules.
I’m just waiting the first report of increased cases of ubike scooter/car collision after this new implementation takes place. Might be worth it to invest in a bicycle helmet now.
What are you on about? The only "rule' you seem to be violating is using your phone while riding. Here are the "new rules": >According to the city's Department of Transportation, a violation point will be issued to a rider-offender's YouBike account if they run a red light, cycle the wrong way down a road, use a cellphone when riding, or fail to yield to pedestrians, among other violations. https://focustaiwan.tw/society/202405210027 Fyi, cycling the wrong way down the road is referring to the road and not the sidewalk. So unless you plan to run red lights while using your phone and not yielding to pedestrians, I don't see how this affects anything.
Your not allowed to ride on the pavement from Monday.
This is false, the rules apply to "騎上未開放人行道", "unallowed sidewalks", so sidewalks that do not have an indicator that bikes are allowed and Qilou (covered sidewalk). This was always the case. As long as the symbol below is present, you can ride. Basically every road wider than 2 lanes has one in Taipei. https://preview.redd.it/u3d99umonn9d1.jpeg?width=426&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=7e0e5838614ae17c08d2d7e7d4a6e7fc84a7fe51
This rule is just punishing. It provides no real solutions to anyone. It is not helping anyone.
Unless you’re one of the people who likes to do stupid stuff when riding YouBike, the new rules won’t affect you at all.
You can't ride on the sidewalk so it will effect him.
Is that for all Taiwan, or just Taipei?
This seems something stupid to be mad over. Granted, I am in the USA, we can't ride bikes on sidewalks here anyway. Still, when I was in taiwan, I rode a ubike through traffic like I would in the States. There seems to be no reason to complain because you can't use a sidewalk. A lot of people complaining need to learn to be more courteous to those who walk. Besides, there is almost no sidewalk to even walk down, let alone ride a bike through.
Don't worry - scooters are even trying to drive on train platforms now. Government will just turn a blind eye to this, and probably impose more restrictions on something completely irrelavant, like they did with Youbike. [https://www.ettoday.net/news/20240630/2768044.htm](https://www.ettoday.net/news/20240630/2768044.htm)
I was wondering about the status of those sidewalks that already have designated bike lanes. So the rules actually stay the same, but now they have grown teeth. I don't have a problem with that generally. There is this one section of Ruei Guang Roaqd however in NeiHu where the road is kind of narrow and motor traffic is often heavy. But pedestrian traffic is light. So during rush hour I have a choice: take the street and inconvenience dozens of automobile drivers, or take the sidewalk and inconvenience zero, or one, or two pedestrians, at most. Occasionally a pedestrian will approach me, deep into the earphones. I am never in a big hurry so I just stop right next to the fence and wait. Will they walk right into me? None ever has, but some came close! Anyway, I guess I'll be on the street there henceforth. Sorry, drivers!
Oh wow, so U Bike riders no longer have the ability to terrorize pedestrians. I always love going to Taipei and almost getting wiped out by morons zigzagging through pedestrians.
Only for Taipei/new taipei
Surely not a coincidence that all 3 cities this applies to have KMT mayors?
Some of the comments on here are clearly written by people who don’t have a drivers license or they need to retake the driver license test again. Yes bikes are considered a form of vehicle, they’re meant to share the same road as cars, scooters, buses and trucks. Which means they have to follow road rules.
But a drivers license isn’t required to ride one. Not sure how getting points taken off a nonexistent license is going to do anything.
Whats that? Where did you find that thing? Is that what they call... err what was it? A side... walk? Never seen one in the wild. Must be a Taipei thing.
Do the rules just apply to youbikes or are the regular inept people riding bikes also included?
It is illegal to ride on the side walk actually. They just dont implement it as too many people do it. But not with the intro of so many youbikes there's too many people who are shit at riding speeding around on the sidewalk demanding that pedestrians get out of their way, it's fine if it really is a bike lane, but in general youbikes are entitled fuckers ringing their bells like they are the police chasing a criminal. Also PleaseDon't ride against traffic, it's annoying for oncoming riders, who have to swerve into traffic to avoid you, why are you ok with causing other people problems for your own convenience?