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How to Use YouBike in Taiwan: A Beginner's Guide

YouBike is the easiest way to cover the last kilometre in many Taiwanese cities. Here is how to get started as a visitor or a resident, how to rent and return a bike, and how to avoid arriving at an empty or full station.

7 min readLive168 editors

YouBike is a public bike-share system with thousands of stations in Taipei, New Taipei, Taoyuan, Taichung, Tainan, Kaohsiung and other cities. You can pick up a bike at one station and return it at any other station in the same system. This guide covers the basics for people who are new to Taiwan. Rules, fees and subsidies are set by YouBike and local governments and change from time to time, so please confirm the details in the official YouBike app before you ride.

What YouBike is

Most stations offer YouBike 2.0, with a yellow and white bike that locks into a smart dock. Many stations also provide 2.0E, an electric-assist version that helps on hills and in hot weather. Older 1.0 stations still exist in some places. Bikes have an adjustable seat, a basket and a bell, and they are designed for short trips rather than long tours.

Two ways to start

  1. Single rental with an international credit card. In the official YouBike 2.0 app, choose the single-rental option, add a Visa, Mastercard or JCB card and verify your email. YouBike places a temporary pre-authorization on the card, reported at NT$3,000, which is released after you return the bike and the rental closes normally. How quickly it disappears depends on your card issuer.
  2. Register as a member with an EasyCard or iPASS. If you will stay a while, link your transit card to a YouBike account with your passport or residence permit number, a phone number and an email. After that you can tap your card on the bike. Local residents can also use other supported payment methods.
Insurance

Riders are asked to enroll in public-bicycle accident insurance in the app or on the website before renting. Read the screen carefully the first time you rent.

Fees

The standard YouBike 2.0 price is NT$10 for each 30 minutes during the first four hours, and higher rates apply to longer rentals. Short rides are rounded up to a 30-minute block. Some cities, such as Taipei, have offered registered members a subsidy for the first 30 minutes, while single rentals paid by credit card usually do not receive it. Prices, subsidies and electric-assist rates change, so check the app for the current numbers. Using the same transit card for a bus or MRT transfer within the allowed time can lower the next fare, as described in our bus guide.

Rent, ride and return

  1. Pick a bike. Check the tyres, brakes and seat height, and choose another bike if anything looks wrong.
  2. Unlock it. Tap your registered card on the bike's reader or scan the QR code from the app. Wait for the light and sound that confirm the rental, then pull the bike out of the dock.
  3. Ride and park only at stations. A rental ends only when the bike is locked into a dock.
  4. Return it. Push the front wheel firmly into an empty dock until it clicks and the light confirms. Check the app or the screen to see that the rental has closed. If the dock does not accept the bike, try another empty dock.

Check docks before you ride

The biggest frustration is arriving at a station with no bikes to rent or no free docks to return to. Use the Live168 YouBike page to find stations within 500 m or 1 km after you tap the locate button, or search by city and district. Each station shows how many bikes can be rented and how many docks are free; where the data is available, regular and electric-assist bikes are counted separately. Save your usual stations to the favorites list to refresh them without GPS.

  • Check both the departure and the arrival station before you leave.
  • Allow a buffer at the end of your ride: a full station means walking to the next one.
  • Counts change every minute as other riders come and go, so treat them as live estimates.

Riding safely

Follow local traffic rules. Ride in bike lanes or on the road where allowed, keep to the right, and stop at red lights. In many places riding on busy sidewalks is discouraged, and bikes cannot be brought onto MRT trains. A helmet is recommended, especially on electric-assist bikes, and lights are important at night. In heavy rain, strong wind or typhoon warnings, choose another way to travel.

YouBike rules, fees and subsidies can change, and some details may differ by city. The official YouBike app and website are the final source.

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