From the statistics in a recent newspaper article, I estimate there are about 15 million motorcycles/scooters in Taiwan. This is out of a population of about 23 million. If you take out children and the very old it seems like there is such a vehicle for every able bodied person in Taiwan. Of course they are convenient, take up minimal space and resources, and the weather permits their use all year round.
In the almost 1 year that I have been a pedestrian in Tainan, I have accumulated about 350 pictures of motorcycles/scooters/motorbikes... and I'm about to use this collection for the next two weeks of blog entries. If you're not interested in the two wheel vehicles, it's a good time to take a break.
The bikes are everywhere, they delivery the mail. ("Cape #7" is an excellent Taiwanese movie.)
They are what the municipal workers use to pick up litter.
They are what meter maids use to give out tickets.
Here we have a vendor selling candy from a cart powered by a stripped down scooter rear end.
I didn't get a good picture of this one(too slow on the draw), here we have 3 baseball players and a batting cage on one scooter.
Scooter can be of help for bicyclists too:
And getting the dog to a park can be a problem unless you have a scooter. In Taiwan heat, I feel sorry for the dog.
I was wondering when you'd write about motorscooters again! Last year they were a bain to you.
ReplyDeleteI'm at peace with it now, it's just part of Taiwan, it's a package deal.
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