Motorcycles in Tainan - One more time

Concerning my series on "Motorcycles in Tainan", I have some more info and pictures:

A   50cc scooter costs about $1000US
A 150cc scooter costs about $2000US


You'd think on a small island like Taiwan, theft wouldn't be a problem because whoever bought the stolen scooter would be found out. But as was explained to me the stolen scooter will quickly be "chopped" in to resellable pieces and parts. There is one pitiful story of one of the Chinese teachers who bought a new scooter on payments, the scooter was stolen and she still has to make the payments. My own Chinese teacher doesn't want to upgrade to a newer scooter because it just becomes a target for thieves.

Here's another picture of a moving San Lun Che.

With a canopy roof!

Such a small engine, no fatties allowed!

Here's an impractical BMW motorcycle next to a motorscooter, there is definitely a size difference.

Here's a better picture of the first scooter I ever owned.

In a recent newsletter for the Tainan Foreign Assistance Newsletter they has some interesting numbers:

There are 1.4 motorcycles/scooter in Tainan, that is 1.2 motorscooter/cycles for every adult in Tainan. And over .5 million motorcycles/scooters are over 15 years old!

In an effort to get the polluting old 2-strokes of the road, the City of Tainan is offering 1000NT for each 10 year old 2 stroke, 1500NT for each 15 year old, and so on up to 3500NT. It looks like the days of the old 2 strokes are coming to an end.