Hinweis – Dieser Artikel ist auf englisch verfasst – This articel is in english language, so welcome international readers ;-).
Cycling is not particularly on the rise in most asian cities. In many places it used to be more popular but now people prefer to have a motorized vehicle if they can afford it. Taipeh in this sense seems a little different, at least in the center and according to what I saw these two days, there are quite some cycle paths, although not everywhere. Besides heavy car traffic, many people cycle and they also do so on sidewalks. The public bikerental system „You Bike“ is apparently very popular, also as a means to get to the next metro station. The first 30 minutes are free, you use the same payback card as for public transport & regional trains and there are many stations – so it is convenient to use (I tried it today). On the streets you also see a lot of e-bikes, very old ones with big lead acid batteries. Modern ones don’t seem to be too present here.
The Cycle Show
After riding my „Youbike“ to Nangang Exibition Center this mornig I quickly registred for the fair, got a ticket and had a first walk around the Taipeh Cycle Show. The fair is much calmer than the Eurobike (some colleagues I met today say they fly here to have a relaxed chat with those CEOs that are super busy at the Eurobike). It teakes place on two floors and the focus is more on bike components, although there are also a good number of ready to sell bikes. Many big producers meet their suppliers here. On the test track you can see some interesting new e-motor concepts… to get an impression, have a look at the first set of fotos I took!
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Further Links
- e-Rad Hafen report from Eurobike 2014 (in english)
- General info on e-Rad Hafen trip to Taiwan and China, 3/2015 (in German)
- Bike Taipeh Blog about cycling in Taipeh
- You Bike public Bike Share system