New rules aim to end unscrupulous YouBike practices (2013/09/16)
New regulations starting from next month aim to stamp out loopholes that allow YouBike users to continually rent bikes free of charge. Charges will also rise starting from the fourth hour of use to prevent people from commandeering a bike as their own.
All it takes to rent a YouBike is an EasyCard, and the first 30 minutes are free. But some are taking advantage of this policy by consecutively renting the same bicycle, preventing anyone else from using it. The city’s Department of Transportation hopes to end this practice with a policy change.
Liu Chia-yu Section Chief, Taipei DOT There are some users who take a YouBike and treat it as their own. We have come up with two measures to prevent this: progressive fees and a ban on consecutive rentals.
Starting from Oct. 1, after returning a bicycle, users will have to wait 15 minutes before renting from the same station. But, if they rent a bicycle and find a problem, they have a five-minute window to return it and take another one.
Over the first four hours of use, the fee will remain NT$10 for every half hour. From four to eight hours it will rise from NT$10 to NT$20. After eight hours it will jump to NT$40.
YouBike User I think it’s sensible. It will stop people from continuously renting these bikes free of charge.
One way around the new rule is if a YouBike user is armed with multiple EasyCards. The city’s Department of Transportation plans to work on a way to also close this loophole.
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