Cycling Safety and Infrastructure in Taiwan: Velodash

It is common to see Taiwanese and foreigners alike cycling in the middle of the road next to the scooters, cars, trucks or other vehicles in Taipei and around the island. We tend to forget how dangerous this could be for everyone on the road, especially for the cyclists.

Molly Huang, an avid cyclist and the founder and CEO of Velodash, a Taiwanese startup with a cycling social app, tells us her story of a close encounter which became the inspiration for her own company.

“Once I was riding with a group of people, and then I fell. My teammates didn’t notice, so they kept going. It was not until two or three hours later that we all gathered and decided that I should be sent to the hospital. Riding a bicycle is dangerous. There are all kinds of situations that could cause trouble, so riding in a group is better. I cannot imagine if my teammates didn’t come back for me.”

After this experience, Molly decided to start her company with the purpose of creating awareness on road safety as well as to encourage a cycling culture in Taiwan.

“I want to actually encourage people to raise awareness for safe riding when you’re on the road. That’s why we built Velodash to enable teams to see their teammates’ real time location and speed, so everyone knows where everyone is in case of a crash or if they get lost.

“We are the the first platform that combines design with a safety mindset, as well as a social aspect. One example would be if a local area wants to promote their cycling path. Instead of printing information and promoting it offline, they could use Velodash to spread the content on all other platforms to promote the culture of riding.”

Infrastructure not friendly for cyclists yet

According to Molly, there are still many difficulties inside the structure of the government institutions and lack of organization across city governments. Molly thinks that many functions that should be related to one another are currently each doing its own thing, which does not help implementing an integral cycling infrastructure around Taiwan.

“Cycling is addressed as a local issue only. Every city has its own idea of how to build the cycling infrastructure. Some of the cities don’t care but some cities do better. I do think that it should be managed by a higher level in the government. As a cyclist if I want to ride from A to B, I can’t skip the middle. If Taiwan wants to attract more cyclists to travel longer distances, or foreign cyclists, then the infrastructure should be more complete.”

Mate Sebok, a former NTU postgraduate from Hungary, has surveyed Taipei Metro riders in selected MRT stations around the city. He found out that Taiwanese commuters who use bicycles as main method of transportation prefer to cycle next to the cars on small roads, rather than in separate lines next to the pedestrians. He also observed the lack of cooperation between city governments to set up a plan that will improve the cycling environment around the country. “It almost feels like a competition between cities,” he said.

How to improve  

Mate offers a set of recommendations after his research. Among these recommendations are:

1. More accessible parking spaces for bicycles around the MRT stations,
2. Citizen involvement in construction of new structures,
3. Design a more clear separation between cyclists and pedestrians along the roads, and
4. More cooperation across the city governments.

Molly and Mate agree that there is not enough cooperation between the institutions responsible for constructing a cycling culture in Taiwan, especially concerning the major issue of safety. If a standardized road structure that includes cyclist does not exist, then major safety issues could arise.

Molly also mentions the struggle that represents the lack of a more centralized institution that integrates all cycling promotions across Taiwan,.

“For example, in Japan the Tourism Bureau deals with this matter. Here in Taiwan, I’m looking for similar government bodies, but I cannot find one because it’s a bit scattered. For this whole infrastructure building and planning, I wish that I could find a policy body that is actually responsible for the planning and promotion as a whole.”

Future plans

Molly hopes Velodash can retain the number of active members in the Taiwan cycling community as well as to expand beyond Taiwan. Japan is the next country where Molly would like to send her company:

“So far we feel something in Japan. There are a lot of things going on next year. It really depends on where and what kind of partners we find in different areas. Taiwan is geographically close with Japan, and Japan is known to have a strong cycling culture. People there respect cyclists, so it’s an environment that’s very suitable for cycling. They’re also trying to attract foreign cyclists. It’s something that they are pushing very hard from the government side.”

In terms of safety, there is a need to make Taiwan, especially its biggest cities such as Taipei, New Taipei City, Taichung and Kaoshiung, more cycling friendly. Molly thinks Taiwan should turn cycling into a mode of transportation instead of seeing merely as a “touristy” gimmick.

But in terms of tourism, just as Molly and Mate pointed out, the information and institutions responsible for the cycling environment in Taiwan are scattered and are not foreigner friendly. For foreigners, understanding the laws surrounding cycling, or find information about traveling by bicycle, isn’t an easy task. With Taiwan’s implementing English as an official language, these areas of service could become more accessible for foreigners.

In the meantime, organizations such as The Taiwan City Cycling Union (台灣城市單車聯盟) aims to make more people cycling in the city to create a more livable place. More information about cycling in Taiwan can be found below:

Cycling around Taiwan
Taipei Bike Regulations In English
8 Laws Every Cyclist in Taiwan Should Know
2019 Taiwan Cycling Festival