TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taipei will allow YouBike riders to use the bikes for the first 30 minutes for free starting on Wednesday (Feb. 28).

At a press conference on Tuesday (Feb. 27), Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) announced the initiative to support the city's 2030 goals of 40% carbon reduction and a 70% green transportation rate. He thanked the Taipei City Council for its support in budget allocation.

The Taipei City Government Department of Transportation said it will also launch a YouBike expansion plan. The number of stations will increase from 1,338 to 2,000 by 2026, and the fleet size will expand from 16,562 bikes to 27,500.

The department said to prevent people from repeatedly re-renting bikes at the same station every 30 minutes, the wait time for renting again from the same station has been extended from five to 10 minutes.

In addition, there will no longer be repeated discounts for transferring between buses and the MRT when using a YouBike. After exceeding the initial 30 minutes, charges will be calculated based on the original pricing structure: NT$10 (US$0.31) for every 30 minutes within 4 hours, NT$20 for every 30 minutes within 4-8 hours, and NT$40 for every 30 minutes beyond 8 hours.

The transportation department said Taipei's YouBike service boasts the highest scale, density, and rental frequency nationwide. The majority of users ride them for short-distance commuting, with around 90% of usage within 30 minutes. Single rentals (excluding transfers and periodic ticket discounts) account for approximately 52% of the total rentals, transfer discount rentals make up about 23%, and periodic ticket rentals approximately 25%.

The department seeks to encourage scooter and car users to switch to YouBikes when commuting. It is estimated this initiative could increase rentals by 15%, benefiting approximately 27 million people annually and reducing carbon emissions by 7,000 tons per year, equivalent to the carbon absorption capacity of about 18 Daan Forest Parks.

In response to concerns about insufficient bikes being available, the transportation department said that through the optimization of dispatching based on big data and the addition of 1,780 bikes in May and 1,500 bikes in December, the overall bike availability rate had increased from 80% in May to 90% in December.

In addition, 2,000 more bikes will be added this month, with plans to accumulate 6,000 bikes by the end of this year. The department pledged to monitor and improve issues related to bike shortages and unavailable return spots.