New YouBike penalty system to be introduced in July: Taipei gov't

Taipei, May 21 (CNA) The public bike rental system YouBike will introduce a new penalty system for users in Taipei, New Taipei, and Taoyuan from July 1 with the aim of curbing traffic violations, the Taipei City government announced Tuesday.

According to the city's Department of Transportation, a violation point will be issued to a rider-offender's YouBike account if they run a red light, cycle the wrong way down a road, use a cellphone when riding, or fail to yield to pedestrians, among other violations.

When a YouBike account accumulates three points in one year, the account holder will be suspended from riding for 14 days, the department said.

In the event seven points are accumulated within a year, the riders' membership will be suspended for a year, it said.

If caught by police riding under the influence of alcohol or drugs, a riders' membership will be suspended for two years, the department said.

The new rule will be introduced in the three northern Taiwan cities, according to the department, adding that it will also dispatch two staff members to report violations at hotspots eight times per month.

Meanwhile, members of the public can report violations with video or photo evidence, while police will also report any violators they catch, the department said.

The YouBike system currently employs a penalty rule established in 2014, but it is neither clearly defined in the membership terms nor consistently implemented across different administrative areas, the department explained.

Also, unlike the existing rule which cancels riders membership directly after they receive seven points, the new system allows "some room for self-correction," the department said.

Under the new rule, all points will be reset to zero one year from the time the first point was issued, it said.

According to the department, the three most common YouBike violations in Taipei are riding on pedestrian walkways where cycling is prohibited, riding on covered walkways, and riding the wrong way down roads.