Taipei is to phase out YouBike 1.0 stations and bicycles from its citywide bike-sharing network from Dec. 3, with riders only able to rent YouBike 2.0s after that date, the city government said Friday.
Neighboring New Taipei, however, said it plans to keep the first-generation YouBike 1.0 bicycles and stations part of the city’s network until 2025.
According to Taipei’s Department of Transportation, after Dec. 6, users renting a YouBike 1.0 in New Taipei who return the bicycle to a yet-to-be-removed YouBike 1.0 station in most districts in Taipei will be charged a NT$350 handling fee.
Due to the high use of YouBike 1.0 stations and bicycles in the capital’s Nangang and Guandu districts — both of which border New Taipei — users will only be charged the handling fee after Dec. 9.
Following the introduction of the YouBike 2.0 system in May 2021, Taipei City Government said it had already reached its target of 1,200 second-generation stations, which is why it was retiring YouBike 1.0.
The YouBike 2.0 system features smart controls on the bicycles themselves instead of on the stands as used by YouBike 1.0, making it easier to install stations.
According to Liao Yuan-ling (廖苑伶), the head of Taipei’s transportation management section, the city government is working with counterparts in New Taipei to disseminate the information about the termination of the YouBike 1.0 services.
In response, Wu Cheng-yen (吳政彥), a section director of the New Taipei Transportation Department, said his city would maintain dual systems of YouBike 1.0 and YouBike 2.0 before retiring the old system in 2025.
Wu said that as both systems were available in every YouBike station in New Taipei, there should be no problems for riders who want to ride to Taipei to find a YouBike 2.0.
In the 13 years since the service’s introduction, YouBike 1.0 rentals have surpassed 200 million, according to Taipei City Government.
With the inauguration of the 2.0 services, users of the old 1.0 system only accounted for 8.5 percent of the total in Taipei as of the end of October, falling from 42 percent at the end of 2021, the city government said.
Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel