TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — A YouBike system failure in Greater Taipei on Wednesday evening left thousands of users unable to rent bikes, prompting Taipei to fine its operator.

The malfunction began around 6:34 p.m., preventing rentals via QR code or card as bikes displayed “Out of service,” per CNA. Taipei’s Department of Transportation said Thursday that because the disruption harmed the public’s interests, it will penalize YouBike under the contract, with a maximum NT$100,000 (US$3,200) fine.

Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) said YouBike is contractually responsible for maintaining normal operations. He said Wednesday’s outage harmed citizens’ rights and demanded the department investigate responsibility and impose a swift, heavy penalty.

Chiang also called for measures to prevent future incidents. He directed the department to examine the cause and ordered YouBike to submit a full report with a concrete improvement timeline.

YouBike spokesperson Lin Yuan-yu (林苑毓) said a backend server connection failed, affecting stations in Taipei, New Taipei, and Taoyuan. Repairs began around 7 p.m., but the system remained unstable until 12:36 a.m. Thursday, when service was fully restored.

Lin said the problem stemmed from a Sept. 27 software update to the bike self-check mechanism. When anomalies were detected, the system repeatedly ran data checks, triggering a traffic surge that disrupted rentals across the three cities.

She estimated that over 20,000 Taipei users were affected and apologized for the inconvenience. YouBike will optimize the self-check mechanism and develop a compensation plan for users.

Riders who experienced payment issues due to the incident can contact customer service.