Dunhua Bike Lane Debacle: City Puts NT$60 Million Failure To Rest

My quick synopsis and commentary of a recent article from the Chinese language news wire:

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Taipei City has finally been forced to terminate the ill-fated Dunhua Bike Lanes.

The Dunhua bike lane was launched 2 years ago with much fanfare, but due to poor design othere have been several serious accidents and numerous complaints. Therefore, after a lengthy evaluation by the Bureau of Transportation, the lanes have been slated for removal.

The lanes have been routinely criticized for having been constructed as a knee jerk reaction to the first bicycle boom in 2008, when the city sought to win political points on the heels of a trend.

Now, the city is proposing a redesign. But after an initial NT60 million initial investment, Taipei residents are reluctant to fund the redesign fearing a continuation of the same type of ill planned, ill thought-out city project that has been the hall mark of Taiwanese urban bike trails.

The lane runs from Min Quan E. Rd. to Keelung Rd. at 4.6km.

Ever since its opening in Sept. 2009, the city has received regular complaints. Many residents feel the basic design has many errors, for example the rubberized material is easily damaged and becomes slick in the rain. Furthermore, the lane cuts between pedestrian walkways and bus lanes forcing citizens to dodge bike traffic in order to catch a bus.

What this really shows is how little the government really considers the needs of cyclists before spending public funds on these types of projects. Often these bike paths are a quick means to pander to the electorate and to spread money to various construction firms.

It is disappointing when a city loses a bike lane when they should be creating them, but that is the risk of letting unrelated factors influence necessary infrastructure. If you're just going to do it half-assed, then don't do it at all.

Hills over Taipei: Ralph Jennings Takes A Look At Taiwan From On High

Central Cross Island Highway

Ralph Jennings has a nice piece in the Taipei Times detailing some of the steeper riding that is available in the foothills above Taipei.

The accordion-shaped Pingjing Street (平菁街) climb from Zhishan Road (至善路) just above the National Palace Museum (國立故宮博物院) cures hangovers while penetrating deep into the less trafficked backside of Yangmingshan National Park (陽明山國家公園).

It’s just one in a maze of well paved, vista-packed and challenging roads in the park, the boundary of which is 30 to 60 minutes cycling time from central Taipei.

The article gives several route suggestions and rider opinions on the roads up to Yangming Shan, which would be extremely useful to riders who might be visiting Taiwan and do not really have to get out much further than the greater Taipei area.

What the article does not articulate, is the difficulty in getting from the city to the mountains. The RED LINE of the MRT (Mass Rapid Transit), which skirts along the Taipei foothills through the Shih Lin and Beitou districts, has several stops that allow bicycles in marked train cars.

Another consideration on weekends is the traffic. Taipei is Taiwan's most populous city and Yangming Shan is a closest and better known "get-away". Weekend traffic can be a pain.

Still, unless you live in Tainan or Kaohsiung, Taiwan's hills are always close enough for a bit of climbing.

Also:

• Taiwanese students win award for their bicycle tent. The device allows a rider to pitch a tent anywhere.

Connecting The Dots: Taipei Completes Major Bike Project

Taipei Urban Bike Path (Green)

The Taipei Times is reporting that Taipei has just completed the Jingmei section of bike trails to finally connect 111km of trails around the city. This is an admirable achievement by any measure as it works to create and expand the available space allocated for cycling, but I would temper my enthusiasm in light of how other global metropoles have better allocated their financial resources to integrate cycling into the urban environment.

With the completion of the 1km bike trail on the right bank of the Jingmei River in front of Shih Hsin University, cyclists can take a ride along the Tamsui, Keelung, Xindian and Jingmei rivers that connect the Muzha (木柵), Neihu (內湖) and Beitou (北投) areas.

Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) joined hundreds of cyclists yesterday morning at Jinmei Bridge to celebrate the completion of the “last mile” of the city’s riverside bicycle trails, and promised to keep the trails safe and eco-friendly for city residents.

“After we complete the last mile of the trails, city residents can take a ride from Taipei Zoo to Tamsui, or to Bitan Lake in Xindian without having to compete for space with cars and scooters. Riverside parks and recreational areas are also more approachable,” he said.

It is clear that, despite the "green" label, the concept behind the NT 1.86 billion dollars spent on bicycle transportation grids is almost completely fixated on sports and leisure, and divorced from the idea of the bicycle as an alternative form of urban transportation. Taipei's bicycle infrastructure is entirely focused on traversing Taipei's different outlying tourism areas.

In related news, the Council for Economic Planning and Development said yesterday that with the cycling craze continuing unabated, Taiwan has already built 1,323km of bike paths and has connected all the paths in the northern region.

The council estimated this total would increase to 3,823km of paths by 2012.

The council said it started to plan for a bicycle path network in 2002 with the aim of building a healthy and superior sports and leisure environment. The council invested NT$1.86 billion (US$63.2 million) on the planning and construction of the bike paths.

I have previously drawn comparisons to other major metropoles and their bicycle plans, and I have speculated on who benefits from the drive for more tourism and tourism infrastructure.

Michael Turton from The View From Taiwan provides an excellent and timely commentary on ECFA and the recent importance of tourism to offset Taiwan's choice to forfeit its most competitive industries. The bicycle is set to play a major role in expanding Taiwan's future as a tourism and entertainment provider.

With so many of these projects funded by the taxpayer; projects which will eventually benefit big business, politicians and those who feed off politicians (someone's big brother), there is surely a need for cyclists to take a closer, and more critical look at these projects, their aims and also their liabilities. Bike are fun, but they are also big business and big politics. I hope Taiwan's riders are paying close attention.

Can there be better, more effective ways to spend tax dollars that can benefit more people and actually contribute to reducing pollution? Is big business too involved in driving these projects that use public funding? Who are the biggest beneficiaries of these projects?

Food for thought.