Spinning Wheels: Explore Taipei with YouBike
『悠游台北的微笑单车』
Taipei's streets are being taken over by yellow-orange YouBike bicycles and the grinning individuals riding them. The city's YouBike system, which is modeled after the bike rental program in Paris that has enjoyed popularity in most cities across the globe, was launched in 2009 and aims to alleviate Taipei residents of the burdensome trek between the sometimes far and inconveniently located MRT stations. It's also meant to be a form of greener transport as well as a way to promote Taipei tourism. YouBike may now be Taipei's new darling, but for much of the last three years, it was on the verge of being shut down.
Taiwan's leading bike maker, Giant Bicycles, runs the program, and when the company first rolled out the YouBike system, it was launched with too few rental stations, none of which were outside the Xinyi area. Paris' initial rollout involved 10,000 bikes at 750 rental stations, while Taipei provided only 500 bikes at 11 rental points. Although Taipei's program was initially unpopular, Giant refused to abandon the bike-sharing project and added 30 more rental stations in August of 2012. It also simplified the registration process and offered 30 minutes of free use. As a result, the service saw more riders in the few months after the new system was implemented than it had in the three years prior to the changes. Now, riders can register using just their phone numbers and rent bikes using EasyCards. Bicycles can also be conveniently returned to any YouBike station in the city, regardless of where they were originally rented. The user-friendly system is now a local hit, and the government expects to open 10 new locations every month in 2013 to achieve its goal of having a rental station every 300 meters.
悠游台北的微笑单车
台北街头最近多了一个新面孔,它是微笑单车 YouBike,橘黄相间的颜色配上大大的笑脸。台北早在 2009 年就已经建置 YouBike 微笑单车服务,仿效巴黎享誉国际的单车租赁方案,目的是为了减轻台北市民因为捷运车站有时距离比较远,而有的车站对乘客来说则不是那么方便可以到达而要长途跋涉。YouBike 微笑单车也是一种更环保的运输方式,也更能进一步推广台北的观光业。YouBike 如今成为台北市民的新宠儿,但其实前三年的运作差点就要关门大吉。
微笑单车 YouBike 当时由台湾的脚踏车龙头捷安特公司负责营运,捷安特公司刚推行 YouBike 微笑单车服务时,出租站一开始就设得太少,而且没有一处是在信义区以外。以巴黎为例,初步便准备一万辆单车和七百五十个出租站;而台北则只在信义区内设立十一个出租站,配置五百辆单车。虽然在台北推行的计划一开始乏人问津,但捷安特公司不肯放弃这个公共单车计划,并于 2012 年八月新增三十个出租站。它也简化了登记程序,并推出『前三十分钟免费』的优惠。结果执行新系统几个月,比起过去改变前的这三年多了许多使用者。现在市民只要用自己的电话号码就可以登记,且使用悠游卡就可以取车。另外还提供甲地租、乙地还的服务,用户原先租车的位置不拘。这项便于使用的系统如今在当地成了大热门,从今年起,市府预计每月增设十个出租站,达成每三百公尺就有一个出租站的目标。