Motor Scooters of Taipei

Taipei and all of Taiwan has an ingrained motor scooter culture.  The majority of adults ride inexpensive 2-stroke engine scooters as their primary transportation.   There are over 11 million registered scooters in Taiwan for a population of 23 million, and many more unregistered.  That suggests the Taipei area with a population of 8 million has over 4 million scooters.  The primary negatives of living in Taipei are the air and noise pollution, both mostly attributable to scooters.  I used to ride Harley Davidsons, so I’m not really an anti-bike guy, but the scooters are obnoxious.

The government of Taipei understands the issues; however they have trouble getting the people to change.  For many years, scooters were the only reasonable way to travel inexpensively.   Taipei installed their mass rapid transit system over the past 10+ years and it is really a great system.  However, most citizens of Taipei still ride their scooters.  Taiwan subsidizes electric scooter purchases, but more than 95% of the scooters sold are the noisy, polluting fossil fuel burning variety.  It will take a major government policy change to move the culture.

The scooters are used by all ages.  You will see a 75 year old man and wife riding, a teenager with his girlfriend, a women with her two small children, etc.  I expected I would see many scooter accidents, but have seen only two so far. The riders go wherever they want.  They take over sidewalks; sidewalks are not for pedestrians.

Scooters are an important business.  In our neighborhood, we have a Yamaha dealer, several repair shops, a seat refurbishment shop and the Best Helmet Plaza.   How can they call themselves the Best?  Well they have the largest selection of Hello Kitty helmets in Taipei, which I think makes them the best.  The seat refurbishment business is amazing to watch.  I walk by the shop several times per day and it is run by a family (father, mother and son), and it is open 7 days per week 12 hours per day.  Scooter riders hang out at the shop similar to HD riders in the U.S. at the dealerships.  The most popular selection for an after-market seat is the Playboy rabbit logo.

Motorcycle gear is a fashion statement in Taiwan.  The picture of the man in full leathers on the beach is a common sight.  Leather jackets with laughable designs keep me entertained.  The funniest leather jacket I have seen is a Johnny Depp looking pirate with two thumbs up.  Below the pirate was the “gang” name of Happy Twinkie.  There are real gangs in Taiwan.  The anti-gangster unit of the government has taken down three gangs so far: The Heavenly Way, the Bamboo Union and the Four Seas.  The police have some very fast scooters, to chase the gangs. So far I haven’t read about any impact to the Happy Twinkies.