Cover Story: The Exceptional Launch and Successful End of YouBike 1.0
In 2009, Taipei City began trialing the YouBike 1.0 public bicycle service, and in 2011 the public bicycle system was rolled out citywide. Users could register in five minutes with just a cellphone number and an EasyCard number, allowing them to reliably borrow and return a bicycle from any dock in the city. The docks were installed in public transit hubs, and around institutions and schools, providing a comprehensive public last mile transportation service. YouBike 1.0 achieved the staged construction targets of 196 stations citywide in 2014 and 400 in 2017, reaching 78,000 average daily rentals in 2019 and a user satisfaction rate of 97%.
In order to expand the service scope and provide a closer and denser public bicycle service, from January, 2020, Taipei City started piloting the YouBike 2.0 system in Gongguan District and on the NTU Campus. In addition to the features of YouBike 1.0, the change to on board units reduced the need to dig in cables for the installation of the docks, making setup faster and more flexible. In 2021 the YouBike 2.0 project was launched citywide, and by mid-October 2022 had reached its target of installing 1,200 stations.
By the end of December 2022, the ratio of rentals from YouBike 1.0 and YouBike 2.0 were 0.3% and 99.7% respectively. Considering the public had switched to YouBike 2.0 system and the new docks had been installed in advance at all major cross-city riding stations in New Taipei City, the YouBike 1.0 system ceased operation on December 3, 2022. Over its entire operating period, the system facilitated more than 203.5 million rentals.