Taipei Goes for 500

According to The Taipei Times:

"The Taipei City Government will provide 500 bicycles for rent near MRT stations by the end of this year to encourage residents to take better advantage of public transportation, Taipei City's Transportation Department said yesterday.

"In a test run of the city's "public bicycle rental system," a total of 500 bicycles will be arranged at 10 rental stops near the Taipei City Hall and Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall MRT stations, said Chen Rong-ming (陳榮明) (sic), a division chief at the department.

"Chen said that people will be able rent a bicycle at one rental stop and return it at another one and they may choose to pay the rental fee by cash, credit card or MRT EasyCard.

"The department budgeted NT$12 million (US$300,000) to establish the system."

This is an extraordinarily low cost of a bike-sharing program of which I'm familiar. As much of the world's bicycle frame and parts production is done in Taiwan, this would make providing the bikes less expensive than abroad. However, there was no mention of the technology they plan to use, so I'm curious about this. If cash may be used, maybe the stations will be attended.

image credit: Wikipedia