NEW TAIPEI CITY CRACKS DOWN ON O BIKE, TAIPEI CITY NEGOTIATES|oBike隨借隨停 衍生占用車格.違停爭議

Singapore's O Bike started up business in Taiwan in April. The system has over 500,000 members. However, its 'borrow anywhere, ride anywhere, and leave anywhere' ethos have brought it into conflict with New Taipei City government which has towed over 900 O Bikes for illegal parking. The company says it will communicate with users and also appeal to get its bikes back. A whole row of O Bikes are swept away by a tow truck and put in a pound. New Taipei City Government says that O Bike is a commercial tool and so cannot use general public parking spaces. If O Bikes are parked in a scooter parking area, they will be removed. ==TSAI YU-YANG New Taipei City Traffic Brigade== According to the 74 article of road transport management, if vehicles are not parked according to regulations they can be removed. In two days we have removed 960 of them. ==NEW TAIPEI CITY RESIDENT== Of course, you can't use parking space like that, unless they rent it, they can rent it from a private individual. ==NEW TAIPEI CITY RESIDENT== But if you don't allow them to be parked there, where can they be parked? Right? So it depends on the situation. O Bike's hallmark is the 'borrow anywhere, ride anywhere, leave anywhere' ethos has led to disputes over parking as the company has placed large numbers of bikes ready to be used at some sites. Some people report these bikes to police and some riders park illegally after use. New Taipei City government started a crackdown on the bikes and towed them away. Taipei City government thinks that the bikes are classed as slow moving vehicles and according to traffic management safety regulations, can be parked in scooter parking spaces. However, to protect the interests of scooter riders, the city government and the company negotiated that they should not take up over ten such spaces. ==CHANG CHE-YANG Dir., Taipei City Dept. Transport == We will forbid the company to use over ten spaces and if they are placed in any of the 13 areas where we implement towing of illegal vehicles, then they will be towed. The department is considering creating autonomous regulations on public bikes so companies may have to pay a guarantee deposit to be allowed to install its rental bikes in Taipei City. The regulations will be sent to the city council for review at the end of the year. == WANG YAN-TING O Bike company== For O Bikes to be parked in parking spaces by our users is perfectly legal. O Bike says that it will continue to negotiate with New Taipei City and will not retrieve the bikes from the pound but will appeal for its rights. TRANSLATED BY：CLARE LEAR