Giant Co. invited Cycle Taiwan to attend the launch press conference of the U-Bike. What is U-Bike? In essence it is a public bike hire program in Taipei City. It is also much more than that.
U-Bike is the FIRST public bike hire program in Taiwan that is completely autonomous and unattended. It is also possibly the only bike hire program in the world where your standard transit pass card is used to hire the bikes as well, thus making them an extension of the city wide public transport system. Yes, you will use your MRT/Bus EasyCard stored value card to hire the U-Bike!
The bike is a custom made 26" wheel bike with a very sturdy frame (heavy) and uses sturdy parts all around. In fact, you would not want it to fall on you.
You will also not want to climb hills with it as it has only 3 gears courtesy of its Shimano Nexus 3 speed rear hub. However, for city riding it is very stable and nimble. The front cargo basket is large enough for a bag of groceries, while an integrated anti-theft cable lock means that you can safely lock your U-Bike outside and get the said groceries. The heft of the bike again comes in handy as carrying it away is not feasible.
The U-Bikes will initially only be available in the Taipei Xinyi district with a roll out to more locations planned for later in 2009. It was very encouraging to see the heads of the department of transport, along with the mayor of Taipei and the President of Taishin bank (the service providers) at the launch. Hopefully this initiative will further move Taipei along the path of reducing motorised traffic, including the endemic scooter traffic.
source:http://www.cycletaiwan.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=97:taipei-u-bike-launch&catid=10:taiwannews&Itemid=18
