Department of Transportation

Four additional stations of YouBike were inaugurated on August 14th, nearly one year after the expansion of this bicycle-sharing program, according to Taipei City’s Department of Transportation. With the new additions: MRT Yuanshan Station, Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Taipei Confucius Temple and Lin An-tai Historical House & Museum, a total of 103 YouBike stations and 3,456 shared bicycles are now available for an even more convenient urban lifestyle, in a giant leap toward a city-wide “green transportation” network.

During the “Smiling Tours and Ultimate Convenience” press conference held by the Department of Transportation at the entrance square of Taipei EXPO Park, Taipei City Mayor Hao Lung-bin said that, as the number of YouBike stations hit the 100 mark, the unprecedented accessibility of Taipei’s mass transit services will encourage the use of green, low-carbon vehicles that add a friendly touch to the changing cityscape. The YouBike stations unveiled simultaneously on August 14th, located at MRT Yuanshan Station (the 100th station) and its neighboring Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Taipei Confucius Temple, and Lin An-tai Historical House & Museum, are integrated with the already-available bike-sharing station at Jiuquan-Yanping intersection into a YouBike-enabled cycling trip to the Taipei EXPO Park. In other words, YouBike users may cross the Fine Arts Park from Yuanshan Park Area to arrive at the Lin An-tai Historical House & Museum, or the City’s next-generation icon: the Pavilion of Action and Dreams. It is believed that these new bike-sharing stations will add diversity and accessibility to itineraries in Taipei.

According to the Department of Transportation, the YouBike program has won popularity and support city-wide ever since its expansion, with more than 6.4 million uses registered. To offer Taipeians a more convenient and cyclist-friendly way to get around town, a network of bike paths has been established, both within and around the Taipei EXPO Park, giving bike-lovers greater access to public recreation facilities.

2013-08-27