Still getting over yesterday's 37 hour Sunday. (Sunday! Sunday! Sunday!)
Used YouBikes to get around town quite a few times. Biggest problem was TomTom turn by turn directions waiting until the very last moment to announce "Left turn at" and then wouldn't tell me the name of the road. Worse, it would sometimes announce "left turn at number number number number", which as far as I could tell was a random sequence.
The Guardian on the Bicycle Kingdom.
Anyhow, a few shots from Taipei to give you a flavor of biking in the city.
Typical main city street. The Brown Line is the el on the left. It's a rubber tired train, only a few cars per train, they run very frequently. Relatively quiet, does not block out daylight, there are several els around the city.
Also of note, the sidewalk. The yellow sign with Peds on Top/Bike on bottom show it's shared MUP. Bikes usually keep to the street side. "Pedestrians Have Right of Way." Don't know why this one is yellow with blue, most were white with blue. Finally, the circle blue arrow/arrow scooter sign. There are two-stage left turns all over the city for scooters. (Bicycles welcome too.) Instead of Copenhagen Left, I'm going to start calling it the Taipei Left:
Typical one-way 30 kph local road. Note the BIG convex mirror across the intersection:
Larger local road, still 30 kph. Red stripe means no parking. White with green is a walk lane. Yup, the "pavement" is often just paint:
One of the rare times someone was parked on the no-parking side. Getting passed by a small truck here:
Larger feeder road, I'm keeping up with the scooters here. They rule the city, fastest way to get around:
The advanced scooter box. There's a stencil of a scooter in the middle of the box. The lights are often long, ALL the scooters filter forward. They often have countdown clocks. Bikes are welcome to join the pack at the rear right:
Taipei Municipal Stadium on the lelt, and for those who know corporate regalia, 7/11 on the right. They are everywhere (along with Family Mart). This is a huge BIKE LANE that I'm riding in:
Taiwan Cultural and Creative Arts Center on the left. This is Minquan East Road, a typical stroad. Three lanes in each direction, with some curbside car parking. In the middle two diamond bus lanes, the bus stops are in the center of the stroad:
Training wheels:
YouBike dock:
-mr. bill