New Taipei plans rollout of electric YouBikes in October

新北市計畫在十月推出電動 YouBikes

Phase out of YouBike 1.0 to make way for pedal-assist electric bikes


TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Following Taoyuan’s decision to roll out the pedal-assist electric YouBike 2.0E, New Taipei will soon follow suit with a similar deployment and removal of previous generation YouBike 1.0 stations from the municipality by October.

New Taipei City Department of Transportation Director Chung Ming-shih (鍾鳴時) appeared at a city council meeting on Monday (March 11) to respond to questions. Chung said a procurement document for YouBike 2.0E was recently released with negotiations commencing with YouBike, per CTS.

Chung said the initial goal was to purchase 2,000 pedal-assist electric bicycles. Where the new bikes will be installed is still being evaluated, but they are expected to hit the road in the second half of the year.

New Taipei City Councilor Cheng Yu-en (鄭宇恩) hoped that in addition to ensuring urban areas, remote locations in New Taipei could also see electric bicycles installed. She hoped that areas such as the north coast and mountainous areas would be included in the rollout to make longer commutes more convenient.

According to the city's transportation department, the price quoted for a YouBike 2.0E bike is NT$60,000 (US$1,907), considerably higher than the NT$28,000 for YouBike 2.0. The city is reportedly seeking further cost reductions.

As for the rate New Taipei will charge for e-bikes, the initial proposal is NT$20 per half hour for the first two hours and NT$40 for every half hour after that.

YouBike 2.0 and 2.0E can share docking stations. The planned YouBike 2.0E deployment will focus on commuter roads and major transportation hubs.

More than 8,000 YouBike 1.0 bicycles will be removed before the end of October. This will allow all 1.0 bicycle columns to be changed to 2.0 ones.

New Taipei currently has 18,000 YouBike 2.0 bicycles and 1,289 stations. It is planning to increase this to 21,000 bikes and 1,800 stations.