Traffic & travel
Shopping Taiwanese style
Yuanlin market this morning
Summing up continued ...
Traffic and travel
Driving in Taiwan can be a hair raising experience especially were scooters are concerned. Scooters in particular tend to ignore all internationally accepted road safety laws. They appear from nowhere, shoot out of side roads without looking or stopping, race up the inside of you almost scraping the paint off the bodywork. They will come at you in the opposite direction on the wrong side of the road and indicate right but turn left. There is almost nothing that cannot be expected, so drivers of vehicles have to be extra cautious and drive defensively at all times.
It seems to me that scooter riders believe they have priority and that all other vehicles are really intruders into their space. Being super efficient and sometimes carrying a family of four, plus a large dog, it's hard not to sympathize with them. However this madness is not confined to scooters and there is a general tendency by many to drive as if there is no one else on the road. The worst example I experienced was waiting at a junction indicating to turn left. A car overtook me by traveling on the opposite side of the road and then turned right, cutting across me. Needless to say, due to the traffic he was not able to go any further and remained stuck at 45 degrees, half in the way of on-coming traffic and still on the wrong side of the road preventing cars from turning in. I also once experienced a truck coming at me on the wrong side of the road for no apparent reason, as if he wish to kill me or at least scare the pants off me. I saw more accidents in this one year in Taiwan than I have seen in 40 years of driving hundreds of thousands of kilometers through Europe. Luckily most are low speed scooter accidents that produce little more than cuts and bruises.
It seems to me that scooter riders believe they have priority and that all other vehicles are really intruders into their space. Being super efficient and sometimes carrying a family of four, plus a large dog, it's hard not to sympathize with them. However this madness is not confined to scooters and there is a general tendency by many to drive as if there is no one else on the road. The worst example I experienced was waiting at a junction indicating to turn left. A car overtook me by traveling on the opposite side of the road and then turned right, cutting across me. Needless to say, due to the traffic he was not able to go any further and remained stuck at 45 degrees, half in the way of on-coming traffic and still on the wrong side of the road preventing cars from turning in. I also once experienced a truck coming at me on the wrong side of the road for no apparent reason, as if he wish to kill me or at least scare the pants off me. I saw more accidents in this one year in Taiwan than I have seen in 40 years of driving hundreds of thousands of kilometers through Europe. Luckily most are low speed scooter accidents that produce little more than cuts and bruises.
Take the train
Thankfully Taiwan has a pretty good public transport system which is crowned by the THSR (Taiwan High Speed Rail). The HSR takes you from north to south along the west coast and is super quick, efficient and easy to use. The normal rail network is also good with reasonably priced fares and frequent reliable air-conditioned trains. There are also many buses** which are very cheap but for foreigners less easy to use especially if your Chinese is not so hot.
Scooters reign supreme however, being cheap to run, easy to park and come with free air conditioning which is a must for much of the time in Taiwan. For the most part pavements and pedestrians are not catered for as the Taiwanese see scooters as the pedestrians. Scooters ride everywhere and if you are not on a scooter you are usually in the way. The scooter riders will cruise the market streets stopping at stalls sometimes not even getting off their bikes to pay. It is total mayhem and if you are on foot almost impossible to cross the busy road to buy that nice melon you spotted just 3 metres away. They will drive into indoor markets polluting the atmosphere filling the air with carbon monoxide, which really cannot be good for the produce or the people selling their wares. I have to say here that most of my traffic experience was confined to Taichung and Yuanlin. Yuanlin * being the worse example I came across. Taiwan is mostly a 'free for all' culture with few rules. This does have the advantage of making the people very easy going, relaxed, super friendly and helpful.
PS * Despite my frequent moans on this blog about scooters, particularly those cruising Yuanlin market, I have somehow grown to love that market. It is so bizarre and unique that I am beginning to think I might miss the mayhem and dodging scooters. It is certainly a place not to be missed if you are ever in Yuanlin and it will probably turn out to be one of my best memories of Taiwan.
UPDATE 1
** During my 2nd year in Taiwan I began using the buses in Taichung and if you buy an 'EasyCard' it makes traveling by bus pretty easy. The swipe card, similar to a credit card can be topped up in many places and used on various transport networks all over Taiwan. All you do when you step on a bus is swipe your card over a scanner at the entrance and then again when you get off. The fare is automatically deducted from the card when you exit and the scanner screen lets you know your remaining total. The beauty of this system especially for foreigners is that you can get on and off any bus without having to worry too much about when and where to get off or if you have the correct change. The buses are so cheap that if you make a mistake you just get off at the next stop and try another bus. Some major stops are announced in English which can be helpful but with smartphones everywhere getting lost is almost impossible.
UPDATE 1
** During my 2nd year in Taiwan I began using the buses in Taichung and if you buy an 'EasyCard' it makes traveling by bus pretty easy. The swipe card, similar to a credit card can be topped up in many places and used on various transport networks all over Taiwan. All you do when you step on a bus is swipe your card over a scanner at the entrance and then again when you get off. The fare is automatically deducted from the card when you exit and the scanner screen lets you know your remaining total. The beauty of this system especially for foreigners is that you can get on and off any bus without having to worry too much about when and where to get off or if you have the correct change. The buses are so cheap that if you make a mistake you just get off at the next stop and try another bus. Some major stops are announced in English which can be helpful but with smartphones everywhere getting lost is almost impossible.
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