Taipei city launches 160 YouBike stations under the "YouBike 2.0" project.
According to FOCUS TAIWAN, Bicycle-sharing system provider YouBike on Saturday opened 160 stations across Taipei equipped with an upgraded system, which features greater accessibility and more payment options, the city's Department of Transportation said.
The new stations under the "YouBike 2.0" project, together with the 103 stations in the Gongguan area (including more than 50 on the National Taiwan University campus) that have been on a trial run, will give the public more access to these services, according to department official Liao Yuan-ling (廖苑伶).
For instance, she said, half of the 160 new stations are located in areas where no current YouBike services are offered because the new system does not need outside electricity.
It runs on solar energy panels built-in on the bicycles rather than underground electric cables through the bike stands, she said.
FOCUS TAIWAN mentions, the new service will also feature smart control panels on the bikes themselves instead of on the stands, meaning that users can rent a bike directly by swiping an Easycard or scanning a QR code with a mobile App on their phones, a new payment option, the department said.
The 2,500 new bikes, painted white and yellow, will also carry a GPS chip and use an automatic locking system instead of traditional locks.
The city intends to install 1,200 YouBike 2.0 stations by the end of 2022, Liao said, to accommodate and gradually replace the current YouBike system, which already offers 13,000 bikes through 400 stations in the city.
FOCUS TAIWAN says, the two systems are not compatible with each other, which did cause some confusion for riders during the trial run, she said.
Liao said the city hopes that the greater density of YouBike 2.0 stations will make them a better choice than the previous version for riders.
The city will continue to open new stations every week, and users can go to www.youbike.com.tw on Mondays and Thursdays to find out the latest on new stations, she said.
