Cycling around Taipei

Interesting movie. Common Taipei life things to notice 1. Bike lanes are very small and surface causes a bumpy ride and often are two way. 2. Taxis not giving much yield to those crossing the zebra 3. Biking on a motor/bike lanes is scary 4. Bikers ignoring red lights 5. Bikers not yielding much to pedestrians 6. Illegally parked cars 7. Inconsistency, suddenly disappearing bike lanes 8. People walking on the bike lanes (you needs that bell) 9. Bikers using the pedestrian zebra area. 10. Too small spaces nearby MRT entries/exists (The Taipei government totally ignored this during design/construction) 11. Very wide roads (Xin-Yi 101/Ren-Ai) without a bike lane 12. Construction occupies the whole sidewalk with no safe space to walk/bike.

Taipei bike laws

Recommendations, but biking on the sidewalk is permitted (well.. that is if you can find the sign if it is.. or not...) Article HERE

Taipei bike Toilet

An article in the guardian from 2016 Return of the Bicycle Kingdom? How pavement cycling is transforming Taipei

BYOB, U-bike or O-bike

O-bike tried any space parking and it is failing. It's management in Taiwan resigned. it caused chaos at NTU, but do you really see lot of O-bikes in the wild ? Is it really a problem ? U-bike are designated parking. Sometimes this is inconvenient unless you need point to point transport to a fixed destination with a U-bike parking nearly Both O and U-bike need central management and service. Why does the Taipei city government not promote bike ownership ? (Bring Your Own Bike) The O-bike may have failed just because Taipei does not offer much bike parking areas. Why are there so many designated spots for motor cycles and almost none for bikes ? It this on purpose to promote the U-bike and dis-encourage own-bike use ? The Taipei City government should set rules that every bank, large retailer, convenience store installs as many bike slots as possible. In the Nederlands new construction are already required to provide a minimum number of bike slots.

Still Taipei city has a lot of work to do to connect the suburbs with Taipei central city. The interconnects and infrastructure to be able to bike from the inner city to the outskirts is still difficult and cumbersome. Bridges for example who only provide space for cars and motorcycles. This is what we need much more of:

Biking Garage in Utrecht, NL

article here There are digital signs that direct cyclists to spots as well as a 24-hour free-parking period. Once construction is complete next year, there will be space for 12,500 bikes, making Stationsplein the biggest garage of its kind.