NEW TAIPEI (TVBS News) — The New Taipei City Department of Transportation announced on Sunday (Sept. 29) that it will closely monitor the impact of Taipei City's free 30-minute YouBike policy and plan to evaluate the situation more cautiously by the end of the year.
The department reported that Taipei's free 30-minute policy increased YouBike usage from about 140,000 daily rides to a peak of 270,000, straining YouBike's ability to manage bike distribution
New Taipei City recently retired its YouBike 1.0 fleet and replaced it with 21,000 YouBike 2.0 bicycles.
As the public eagerly awaits whether New Taipei will follow Taipei's lead in offering the first 30 minutes for free, the department stressed that promoting green transportation remains a primary goal for the city government.
It added that while funding the free 30-minute policy poses no significant issue, YouBike's distribution capabilities in New Taipei still need improvement. They will assess whether short-distance walkers would switch to YouBike if the first 30 minutes were free.
The department is also expanding YouBike stations from over 1,300 to 1,500 and evaluating if the current number of bikes and distribution capacity is sufficient. They aim to present preliminary evaluation results by the end of the year to avoid issues of bike shortages or overcrowded stations for commuters.