The buzz of mopeds swarming the streets in a Mario Kart like fashion is a typical rush hour sight in Taipei—it’s a lively scene and one many visitors remember. Transportation in Taipei is unique in other less appreciated ways that underly a strong foundation for multi-modal transit. Multi-modal transportation matters to cities because it allows people to have convenient, affordable, and even fun options for getting places. It sure beats the alternative of gridlocked traffic and wasting valuable space for parking in land-scarce Taiwan. Central to Taipei’s success at giving people choices is the YouBike bike-share system that launched in 2009. At first glance, the streets and sidewalks of Taipei seem to be a hostile environment for a popular bike-share program. There are cars, trucks, buses, and mopeds, all fighting for space, and the sidewalks are crowded and sometimes obstructed by food stalls or other obstacles. Despite all this, I found biking in Taipei to feel safer and easier than places with comparable or even better bike infrastructure. Biking on the streets with traffic surprisingly wasn’t a problem as cars were used to two-wheeled vehicles and the moped zones in front of cars at traffic lights also worked well for bikes. Biking on the sidewalks was legalized a few years back and for the most part pedestrians and bikes get along—but for faster biking the street is the way to go. The popularity of the service seems to suggest many other people also find YouBike to be a great transit option; the system boasts one of highest use-rates in the world with an average of around 9 trips per day for each bike (the average for most systems is less than two trips for each bike a day). Biking culture has started to take hold in the city and more people in Taipei are using bike-share as one part of a larger journey via subway, bus, foot, or moped.

Complementing the bike-share program, and vice versa, is a world-class bus and subway system that connects the region to the larger rail network and two international airports. In subway stations one can expect clean public restrooms, wifi, chargers, large LCD TV monitors with news and subway countdowns, safety platform gates, and an average of two to three minute wait times. If that weren’t enough some stations even sport stores and underground malls; I would sometimes get $9 haircuts at the station next to my dorm. While the subways and buses were great, I would still often bike to places as I liked to look around and get some exercise. Biking in many places around the world is a lonely affair, but in Taipei there are always dozens of bikes around making the activity feel safe and a part of civic life.

Asides from the smart placement of bike-share stations next to popular transit options and destinations, a huge part of the convenience and accessibility of the transit system was thanks to a contactless tap card called Easy Card, or Yōuyóukǎ. Easy Card let me easily pay for all transit services in Taiwan, purchases at convenience stores, coffee at Starbucks, meals at food courts, access to tourist attractions, and more. Many other cities also have transit tap cards that work at some convenient stores, but many don’t have the same widespread adoption by retailers, transit options, and tourist attractions alike. One of my favorite parts of Easy Card was that it was also my student ID at National Taiwan University when I was a visiting student during the Spring 2016 semester. I loved that transit was so well thought out and integrated in Taipei because it gave me affordable and convenient choices—something I never experienced growing up in transit-poor San Diego. While there are lots of things that can be done to make things better such as more protected bike lanes, there is already a serious multi-modal transit foundation and also momentum for future changes. During my short eight months in Taiwan, miles of protected sidewalk bike lanes opened and the existing network of lanes are being expanded and improved upon. Pedestrians unfortunately do wander into them, but it’s understandable that changing behavior takes time.

My transit experience in Taipei was fresh on my mind as I returned to Middletown, Connecticut, for my last year of college at Wesleyan University. I began to daydream about how transit could be better for the local community, and started with small sketches, proposals, and research. Shortly after returning I completed the first stage of ease of use improvements for local transit in Middletown that I hoped would make it easier for the Wesleyan community to catch a bus, plan a trip, and pay for fares. The full story on that can be read here.

Connecticut has had some recent changes that make me hopeful for better transit in the state such as the success of the CTFastrak Bus Rapid Transit service, the recent launch of a new commuter rail line connecting central Connecticut, the launch of live bus times for many bus routes, and the rollout of Taipei-style tap cards that automatically handle transfers, pass upgrades, and student/elderly discounts. While these are potentially great changes, the funding landscape for public transit in Connecticut remains uncertain and agencies across the state will face cuts next year. These cuts are a serious setback despite years of healthy transit ridership growth on many transit lines throughout the state. Continued advocacy, creativity, and improvements are the only way forward in the longer battle for funding and creating more options for all people in Connecticut. We need more people to realize and experience the freedom of choice that comes with having more than one convenient and affordable transit option, and my time in Taipei certainly did that for me. I hope we see more successes at the local level across the country so we Americans don’t have to travel thousands of miles away for the simple freedom of not driving everywhere.

Update July 4th, 2019:
So proud of those who not only fought public transit cuts but also worked to make this express bus service from Middletown to Meriden rail station a reality! Our first project proposal was published almost exactly two years ago on July 14th, 2017. Making changes to transit doesn’t happen overnight, but it doesn’t mean it’s not worth getting the process started.

Congrats Noah Kahan on taking this to the finish line!