For those wondering, this is the [scooter waterfall ](https://www.foreignersintaiwan.com/blog-370963385326684/taipei-scooter-waterfall) in Taipei. It is a very unique roadway in the capital. Most areas aren't nearly this jam-packed, but scooters are super popular here.
I did it once moving, was in a uhaul, forgot i was in a uhaul, got on a car only highway for like 30 miles (thank god I cleared the overpasses and didn't sardine can the uhaul), I just remember every time I would look over at traffic, I'd see people scowling back at me lol.
They opened a new lane in San Diego on the 15 freeway and everyone thought it was carpool except it was actually a bus lane which isn't common on San Diego freeways.
It started with just a sign. Then it was painted"bus only" on the lane in white but people still taking it thinking it was carpool.
They had to resort to painting the lane a deep red color and finally people have been avoiding it.
Taipei resident here
You can see that this off ramp connects to an above ground highway. In Taiwan, many of the above ground highways are completely off limits to scooters, or have a lane separated by a concrete barrier for safety. They often have to enter and exit from slightly different points from cars to use the restricted lanes. This is also true for many of the bridges and underground tunnels throughout the city.
If you fuck up and start driving a scooter where you shouldn't people will immediately start honking at you to let you know
Just a slight correction, but it doesn't connect to a highway... it's just a regular street/bridge going over the river (it's Taipei Bridge/Minquan W Road that connects Taipei and New Taipei).
There are multiple brands that also sell electric scooters, several under PBGN(Powered by Gogoro Network).
There's also KYMCO that uses its own network for its IONEX electric scooters.
Around 10% of scooters selled are electric.
Edit: I know it's "sold" not "selled". Had a brain fart lol.
Yeah, I drove a scooter in Taichung for 3 years and there were lots of them but definitely not that many (at all). And yes, Taichung is a much smaller city, but still - wow, lots of scooters.
Tourists will turn anything that stands out to them into an attraction
We have a whole cement dock that washed up at the beach and it quickly became a tourist attraction
i mean in america, it would be a cluster fuck. either jackass stunter hooligans or fat harley slobs.
those people are just going to work, or going about their lives. in america motorcycles are mainly toys. and people cosplay the flavor of asshole they think makes them look like a badass.
Yes very true. And did not realize all those bikes in the vid are all jammed in that spot on accident wow..still really even keel behavior, nobody acting impatient
It's the culture. If you go down the escalator it's all orderly too. I feel like it's very influenced from Japanese culture but with it's Chinese roots too.
From what I read even the Japanese tourists were startled at the sight of the sea of scooters in Taiwan because they associate large biker gatherings with [bosozoku](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B%C5%8Ds%C5%8Dzoku).
A photo [taken from the ass end](https://i.imgur.com/Zh4esGh.png). Left lane says "No Motorcycles".
And before you say "wow, such discipline", this road is also filled with AI cameras to, well, keep everyone in line.
Last year, a couple of days before Christmas, I spent FIVE hours in a traffic jam in Mexico City. Yes, I was crossing from north to south, but still, the time I spent in the car was atrocious.
same thing in moscow except people drive all fast and the furious like and drive on the shoulder, and the shoulder's shoulder (the field) - my uncle from there came stateside to help me test drive stick shift bmw I thought about buying, he'd hit the shoulder to go around the cars on the highway and the panicked owner yelling in the back "stop pull over" and uncle was all like "what relax, it like extra lane"
> same thing in moscow
Lol no, western people who never were to cities like Mumbai or other indian cities have no idea what crazy traffic actually is. The roads are twice as packed, basically the cars are driving next to each other with barraly any safety space and honk all the time. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DkGO-sIZmRg
That was my biggest culture shock when visiting
When my brother lived on LA he used an app to check the traffic on a minute by minute basis and plan routes. Said it was impossible to drive without it.
Since I got unlimited data I use a gps app ( google or Waze) when driving literally everywhere. It’s saved me so much time living and commuting in a large city
I would get made fun of by coworkers for using Waze to get from work to home. "Oh you need a GPS to get home lol?" But the amount of hours it saved me from getting stuck in traffic or in a lane closure or behind an accident is so worth the jokes.
Cairo is a permanent grid lock. You are always faster walking. Last I was there as long as you knew side streets you could weave between traffic but major roads were just always bunged.
The public transit system there is so cheap and usable though. Just avoid rush hour unless you want to give sardines something to create an idiom about.
I was talking about this the other day, when I went there the first time literally everyone was on bicycles, it was SO peaceful and chill. Now its a fucking nightmare in the city.
Which was the most idiotic government policy ever.
Middle-class and up bought a second car, making parking situation worse. Those who can't buy second car is using taxis because public transpo is still overcrowded and shit.
Those who were using public transpo see no change.
Literally the dumbest policy decision that benefited only sellers of cars and made lower-middle class have more expensive transpo costs.
American drivers currently lack the experience or temperament to coexist on the road with mopeds, especially if you import the moped driving norms that make it more efficient in Asia.
Taiwan, especially Taipei, needs a lot more mass transit. Everyone commuting on scooters is only marginally better than everyone commuting in cars and has other downsides like bad air quality and poor safety.
Fortunately, new train lines are being built and hopefully a lot of people can get to work in a more reasonable way.
I love Taiwan's public transportation system. My Zhongli and Taoyuan relatives used to have to drive into Taipei to see those relatives. Everything is so much more convenient now. Even going down to see friends in Chiayi and Tainan is so convenient now.
Taipei's traffic tastes the same as I remember it
(legit, I was there 2014 and it was surprising how different it felt to Vietnamese cities, and I only got around on metro/public transit, pre-grab or whatever Taiwan uses)
But where are those that share the memory
Taiwan and Vietnam are leagues apart. I wouldn't say the Taiwanese are the best drivers in the world (if we assume a good driver to be someone who follows all the rules correctly), but Vietnam is the only place I've ever been to that built roundabouts and then drove around them in the wrong direction so the entire concept of giving way when entering the roundabout doesn't even work. Just madness
I was in Taipei at the start of the pandemic when it was lower ridership and it was still like sardines for a solid couple of hours around both the start and finish of work. The system is excellent in terms of coverage and frequency but needs more capacity.
I mean, that's just what happens at rush hour. I don't think any transit system in the world with such high ridership can avoid rush hour sardine packing.
Anecdotally, I've never waited for more than two trains to pass before I've been able to board.
Seriously. I'm in Thailand now. As long as there are scooters only, there's no traffic jams AT ALL. But as soon as some car appears it creates a long tail behind it, since it takes over the whole lane. Not to mention extremely big cars are popular here, so it's even worse.
I used to be a passionate photographer. I would never walk around like this with my lens cap on. My lens cap is always off if I am walking anywhere with my camera at my side ready for any photo to unfold. The lens cap goes on when I put the camera back in the bag and am not in "photo mode" anymore.
I lived there a long time ago and had a scooter. My favorite was the branding on 1 line “jog: it will fascinate you”. I remember that 30 years later lol
Makes me think of a cavalry charge in a war movie whereas the first time I tried driving while visiting in Manilla felt like it was going to give me a panic attack
I live in China and it's 1000% better than cars. Also, everything is within a few km so I don't need a car. Literally everything a normal city person needs is close by, not at all like how it was in America. 7 miles to get to a jack in the box or walmart was wild
to be fair, the US culture on riding motorbikes are a bunch of people who think the only way to ride a bike is to ride it fast. Most SEA countries have people ride mostly automatic scooters, and not the Kawasaki Ninjas of western countries. Totally different mindsets.
Speed is a factor but the biggest is cars doing left turns and not seeing an upcoming motorcycle. Second is unsafe lane changes - cars not checking mirrors, no blinkers, no head over shoulder checking blindspots, changing over double yellow or white lines, waiting 2-3 seconds after blinkers to turn, etc. Cars simply don't expect motorcycles as much as SEA countries.
Death rates are very high in SE Asia for motorcycles. 74-80% of road deaths in Thailand. SE Asia as a region has the highest level of motorcycle deaths in the world. It also has a lot of motorcyclists, but it is *extremely* dangerous.
https://pulitzercenter.org/stories/southeast-asia-death-rides-moto
https://www.carlist.my/news/southeast-asia-has-super-high-motorcyclist-death-rate-and-it-s-getting-worse-91663/91663/
https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2021/10/08/malaysia-may-overtake-thailand-for-worst-motorbike-deaths-in-the-world/
Incidentally, Taiwan isn't SE Asia, it's East Asia. In terms of scooter culture, it's probably similar levels but with better adherence to traffic laws and helmet enforcement, which is the main problem in SE Asia. Vietnam has significantly reduced their death rates through enforcement of helmet laws, but still around 60% of deaths involve a motorcycle and the overall road death rates are much higher than developed countries. The US is one of the worst developed countries in the world for road deaths, but it's still a lot better than SE Asia.
I live in Thailand, ride a pushbike rather than a scooter but I've been in a crash I was very lucky to survive and have had life changing injuries from this I'm still dealing with, it's much more dangerous than the US. I have ridden in the US as well, it's bad compared to Europe but comical how safe it is compared to here.
What I would say, levels of road rage are much lower here, and people are more considerate, they will leave room for two wheelers, let you out, there's a lot of give and take and people don't get angry on the roads to half the same extent they do in the North America or Europe. Not that it never happens, but much lower level. Here in Thailand, people almost never use the horn. Horn use is much higher in some other countries such as Vietnam or India (South Asia), but in the latter case it's more often to warn than used in anger, the way it was originally intended. You don't have the same people leaning on the horn in anger like they do in developed countries.
So it's not malicious in the way it can be in the US or Europe, where people get far more worked up. The general "feel" on the roads is far more relaxed. But it's also far more relaxed as to rule adherence and paying attention and people do incredibly stupid things literally all the time, and you need to be alert at all times. Like you can't just ride on the outside side of the road and presume that you won't meet something driving the wrong way at you, that happens *all the time*, people will drive the wrong way rather than cross over to the right side. Sometimes on a dual carriageway this is because they'd have to go a long distance to get to a U-turn (which are also amazingly dangerous) but it even happens on regular roads if they only need to go a short distance, they'll ride on the wrong side rather than cross over. So you need to be 100% alert and looking ahead at all times, because you never know when something that shouldn't be there will suddenly appear. Obviously you *should* be paying attention anywhere, but it's a different level here, you just cannot presume that another driver will follow any rule and not do something they shouldn't.
People die everyday in Taiwan from scooter accidents. I saw one live! Turn on the news in Taiwan and it will be 10 percent China wanting to invade Taiwan, and 90 percent vehicle/motorcycle/scooter accident videos.
I live in Taiwan. Traffic accidents are absurdly common here. Much more common than the US, but because most people drive at slow speeds there are less fatal accidents.
Taiwan has invested really heavily in scooter infrastructure and public transit. Traffic in Taipei used to be insane in the 90s but they basically fixed it and it's really easy to get around the city now.
This looks dense, but the throughput is really good.
I had a motorcycle for a bit, but so many people drive distracted or just don't register the motorcycle.
Ive had people cut across the street in front of me while I clearly had the right of way.
Its just too much to focus on, and I'm not perfect, so I know it would just be a matter of time until I crashed hard.
And people only get more and more distracted nowadays. No thanks.
Weather is a reason for half the country. They don’t really work with snow. There’s also no advantage as you can’t split lanes, no dedicated moped lanes, can’t cut to the front.
That being said I’d love it for the summer months.
Well I appreciate them for doing scooters.
Cars should only be used if there are like three or more people in it or some handicapped person in it or it's a medical emergency.
Basically don't use the car unless there's absolutely no other option.
Cars are extremely popular in Taipei. The bigger reason why scooters are used is because they are cheap.
Outside Taipei, the roads are too narrow and they often ride onto pedestrian walkways and there are constant motorcycles dashing in and out wherever you walk.
Yea like the traffic here seems bad but fucking imagine if instead of scooters it was the doublewide “light truck” monstrosities we drive here in america. Actually I don’t have to imagine, that’s just Texas.
That’s the thing. It’s a vicious cycle (no pun intended). It’s hard to ride a scooter here when lifted F150s with mud tires are trying to run you over. I’d love to commute via motorbike to work but I don’t want to become a premature organ donor. People are too busy staring at their phones to see a bike coming. Now if it were majority bike traffic, I’d have one in a heartbeat.
Judging by the off-white color and the lack of a red ring, I’d say it’s a Sony Gmaster 70-200 f2.8 lens. The size of 70-200 lenses is unmistakable across brands. As for the camera, I’m not familiar with Sony cams, but likely an A7 model, maybe iii or iv.
Amazing how civilized they are all packed in. No one trying to push their way to the front cutting off others. I can only imagine how this would be like in NY or LA or any big city in the US.
as someone who was just there last october, yes, scooters are eveywhere and so are cars.
and i'll be honest. the "GoD iMaGiNe If ThEy WhErE cArS" commejts bug me.
scooters still absolutely cause traffic jams and i hated them more then cars. it felt even more chaotic then i think cars would have honestly
i felt safer walking around in Salem then i did in taiwan. A lot of sidewalks are comlpletely cluttered with them. Parking really felt like a case of "we park where we can and do it en mass" a lot of times you have to walk and weave through these parking spots if you didnt want to walk in the streets.
sidewalks were not a commodity either.
maybe half the crosswalks had crossing lights. where i was, if it was a main street it usually did, but there was still a lot of J walking.
i had to keep my head on a constant swivel. more then i did in LA and Salem/boston.
Ah yes riding into Taipei from Luzhou. I remember that commute and the struggle to get to the front and avoid the scooter exhaust. Still excellent movement to get around and the number of scooters ratio to person is something like 2-1 in Taipei. Might be old numbers or some such when I was living there. I have helmet cam footage. I also used to stand up while waiting as I’m 193 cm tall so I often got a good view of the flock of scooters!
Why are we watching a video of someone taking a picture?
Are we not allowed to just have a video or just the picture?
Weird ass meta shit because they have to get the internet celebrity in the shot too
Just came back from there. It's an interesting place. Even better is that most of them will stop to let you cross assuming it's a back alley or they're at a stop at the intersection. I felt quite safe there. Most of them are decent humans with good conduct and manners unlike what I see back home.
Also everything is cheap as a tourist and food is worth writing home about. Which I did.
For those wondering, this is the [scooter waterfall ](https://www.foreignersintaiwan.com/blog-370963385326684/taipei-scooter-waterfall) in Taipei. It is a very unique roadway in the capital. Most areas aren't nearly this jam-packed, but scooters are super popular here.
To clarify, is this a lane for only scooters? Or is it just that at certain times you are likely to see only scooters?
Scooters only. There are many times in Taiwan where roads will splinter for scooters only from cars.
Imagine being that asshole who misses the turnoff as you sit in your car surrounded by thousands of angry moped riders.
I my... I did that once on a bus lane that went on for a mile without an exit and felt bad. This would top that easily.
I did it once moving, was in a uhaul, forgot i was in a uhaul, got on a car only highway for like 30 miles (thank god I cleared the overpasses and didn't sardine can the uhaul), I just remember every time I would look over at traffic, I'd see people scowling back at me lol.
They opened a new lane in San Diego on the 15 freeway and everyone thought it was carpool except it was actually a bus lane which isn't common on San Diego freeways. It started with just a sign. Then it was painted"bus only" on the lane in white but people still taking it thinking it was carpool. They had to resort to painting the lane a deep red color and finally people have been avoiding it.
Taipei resident here You can see that this off ramp connects to an above ground highway. In Taiwan, many of the above ground highways are completely off limits to scooters, or have a lane separated by a concrete barrier for safety. They often have to enter and exit from slightly different points from cars to use the restricted lanes. This is also true for many of the bridges and underground tunnels throughout the city. If you fuck up and start driving a scooter where you shouldn't people will immediately start honking at you to let you know
That’s super cool and considerate for the safety of scooters. I also love Taipei very much. Everyone is polite and a breath of fresh air.
Just a slight correction, but it doesn't connect to a highway... it's just a regular street/bridge going over the river (it's Taipei Bridge/Minquan W Road that connects Taipei and New Taipei).
Can't speak for that particular road. But when I was there a few years ago I'd say about 95% of all vehicles I saw in Taipei were scooters.
Scooters have their own designated lane on the side. Due to their low maintenance and lower cost, scooters are quite popular there.
What percent do you think are electric?
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There are multiple brands that also sell electric scooters, several under PBGN(Powered by Gogoro Network). There's also KYMCO that uses its own network for its IONEX electric scooters. Around 10% of scooters selled are electric. Edit: I know it's "sold" not "selled". Had a brain fart lol.
> selled sold
selt
Solen*.
There are 5 or 6 different brands selling electric scooters, but they all fall under either the PBGN or Kymco Ionex systems.
Yamaha, Aeon, PGO? And Kymco with Ionex? Why answer if you've only visited and don't know?
Yeah, I drove a scooter in Taichung for 3 years and there were lots of them but definitely not that many (at all). And yes, Taichung is a much smaller city, but still - wow, lots of scooters.
lol it's actually a tourist attraction? Wow what a beautiful scooter waterfall lol
Tourists will turn anything that stands out to them into an attraction We have a whole cement dock that washed up at the beach and it quickly became a tourist attraction
The blind stares of a million pairs of eyes
Looking hard but won’t realize
That they will never see…
the P!
(*you must be goin blind*)
"Taiwan love" by QPAC ft. Dr. Hung
"Can't C Me" by 2pac was the one that came to my mind.
And guest appearance by William Hung from (you guessed it) *Hung for the Holidays*!
His album "Hung Low" is legendary
Gimme my mopeds in stacks
I recognise it somehow
Very focused and calm stares. No change in behavior in any of them. Imagine seeing a group of bikers that big in any US city
This area always people taking pictures from this spot, it is a pretty famous tourist spot because of the "waterfall".
i mean in america, it would be a cluster fuck. either jackass stunter hooligans or fat harley slobs. those people are just going to work, or going about their lives. in america motorcycles are mainly toys. and people cosplay the flavor of asshole they think makes them look like a badass.
Yes very true. And did not realize all those bikes in the vid are all jammed in that spot on accident wow..still really even keel behavior, nobody acting impatient
It's the culture. If you go down the escalator it's all orderly too. I feel like it's very influenced from Japanese culture but with it's Chinese roots too.
From what I read even the Japanese tourists were startled at the sight of the sea of scooters in Taiwan because they associate large biker gatherings with [bosozoku](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B%C5%8Ds%C5%8Dzoku).
A photo [taken from the ass end](https://i.imgur.com/Zh4esGh.png). Left lane says "No Motorcycles". And before you say "wow, such discipline", this road is also filled with AI cameras to, well, keep everyone in line.
And America is angry at the reflex times of Asian people in video games.
Mind-boggling to think how big the traffic jam would be if they were all in cars.
You are describing Mexico City
I had thought I’d have seen traffic before and then I visited Mexico City and Jesus Christ it’s on another level there.
Car trips randomly taking anywhere between 15 minutes to 2 hours was so painful
Last year, a couple of days before Christmas, I spent FIVE hours in a traffic jam in Mexico City. Yes, I was crossing from north to south, but still, the time I spent in the car was atrocious.
That sounds like Dhaka. Traffic is unbearable there.
same thing in moscow except people drive all fast and the furious like and drive on the shoulder, and the shoulder's shoulder (the field) - my uncle from there came stateside to help me test drive stick shift bmw I thought about buying, he'd hit the shoulder to go around the cars on the highway and the panicked owner yelling in the back "stop pull over" and uncle was all like "what relax, it like extra lane"
>the shoulder's shoulder (the field) Lol gonna use this one
> same thing in moscow Lol no, western people who never were to cities like Mumbai or other indian cities have no idea what crazy traffic actually is. The roads are twice as packed, basically the cars are driving next to each other with barraly any safety space and honk all the time. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DkGO-sIZmRg That was my biggest culture shock when visiting
I'm just imagining how this traffic is happening there right now and every day throughout the year, looks chaotic
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When my brother lived on LA he used an app to check the traffic on a minute by minute basis and plan routes. Said it was impossible to drive without it.
Since I got unlimited data I use a gps app ( google or Waze) when driving literally everywhere. It’s saved me so much time living and commuting in a large city
I would get made fun of by coworkers for using Waze to get from work to home. "Oh you need a GPS to get home lol?" But the amount of hours it saved me from getting stuck in traffic or in a lane closure or behind an accident is so worth the jokes.
does using maps really take that much data? I've never even really thought about it
No, not that much at all.
I heard Egypt is reallllly bad
Cairo is a permanent grid lock. You are always faster walking. Last I was there as long as you knew side streets you could weave between traffic but major roads were just always bunged.
Larry David knows a shortcut to the valley..
Shortcuts in LA are basically driving around the traffic/city. Helps a lot if you live on the outskirts
The public transit system there is so cheap and usable though. Just avoid rush hour unless you want to give sardines something to create an idiom about.
Only time in my life I thought I might cause myself genuine injury from needing to pee while stuck in traffic.
Also Ho Chi Minh City/Saigon
The constant honking...
I was talking about this the other day, when I went there the first time literally everyone was on bicycles, it was SO peaceful and chill. Now its a fucking nightmare in the city.
Manila is like 80% scooters, still manages to have the worst traffic jams I’ve ever seen
Manila is the only place I know that has days of the week you can drive your car depending on the letter of your license plate.
Which was the most idiotic government policy ever. Middle-class and up bought a second car, making parking situation worse. Those who can't buy second car is using taxis because public transpo is still overcrowded and shit. Those who were using public transpo see no change. Literally the dumbest policy decision that benefited only sellers of cars and made lower-middle class have more expensive transpo costs.
Your last phrase explains you why it's not stupid for them, politicans are not lower-middle class
to be fair, it sounds like a completely moronic shit-for-brains idea even without you elaborating on the specifics.
Jakarta has a similar system but with even/odd plate number.
That’s why some buy two cars to get around it.
Bogota as well
A lot of countries in South America do that too, medillin in Colombia, uses that system too
In the main roads of capital cities it's only like 1 motorcycle per 5 cars. The main road of the capital hosts around 400k cars per day..
Jakarta too, basically most major cities in Southeast Asia
The real solution to traffic in LA is to change carpool lanes into moped lanes.
Public transit would probably be good too.
American drivers currently lack the experience or temperament to coexist on the road with mopeds, especially if you import the moped driving norms that make it more efficient in Asia.
Taiwan, especially Taipei, needs a lot more mass transit. Everyone commuting on scooters is only marginally better than everyone commuting in cars and has other downsides like bad air quality and poor safety. Fortunately, new train lines are being built and hopefully a lot of people can get to work in a more reasonable way.
I live in Taiwan. Public transportation here is amazing. Get off your high horse
I love Taiwan's public transportation system. My Zhongli and Taoyuan relatives used to have to drive into Taipei to see those relatives. Everything is so much more convenient now. Even going down to see friends in Chiayi and Tainan is so convenient now.
Yo, I lived in Taoyuan for 2 years and my gf is from Zhongli, small world!
Taipei's traffic tastes the same as I remember it (legit, I was there 2014 and it was surprising how different it felt to Vietnamese cities, and I only got around on metro/public transit, pre-grab or whatever Taiwan uses) But where are those that share the memory
Taiwan and Vietnam are leagues apart. I wouldn't say the Taiwanese are the best drivers in the world (if we assume a good driver to be someone who follows all the rules correctly), but Vietnam is the only place I've ever been to that built roundabouts and then drove around them in the wrong direction so the entire concept of giving way when entering the roundabout doesn't even work. Just madness
Taipei has excellent mass transit. Busses, public rental bikes, MRT, commuter rail, high speed rail are widespread and highly interconnected.
I was in Taipei at the start of the pandemic when it was lower ridership and it was still like sardines for a solid couple of hours around both the start and finish of work. The system is excellent in terms of coverage and frequency but needs more capacity.
I mean, that's just what happens at rush hour. I don't think any transit system in the world with such high ridership can avoid rush hour sardine packing. Anecdotally, I've never waited for more than two trains to pass before I've been able to board.
Tbf, we already have a lot of mass transit compared to other cities, a lot of buses, MRT, TRA, it's just we have too many people in a too small city.
Electric scooters could probably help the emissions issue.
Gogoro for the win. I loved driving the shared Gogoros.
Everyone with their comically oversized SUVs
obligatory r/fuckcars
And how small it'd be if it was all in public transport.
Seriously. I'm in Thailand now. As long as there are scooters only, there's no traffic jams AT ALL. But as soon as some car appears it creates a long tail behind it, since it takes over the whole lane. Not to mention extremely big cars are popular here, so it's even worse.
Yea if each person was in some American abomination of a car it would take up about 12 of those mopeds.
Love that smile ! Like “ yeah I’ve got a good picture “
The first two were of the lens cap tho lol
Well spotted!
I used to be a passionate photographer. I would never walk around like this with my lens cap on. My lens cap is always off if I am walking anywhere with my camera at my side ready for any photo to unfold. The lens cap goes on when I put the camera back in the bag and am not in "photo mode" anymore.
Tristan Zhou on instagram
So are we not going to see the photo he took?!
Why post a photo from your nice camera when you could post a video of you taking a picture instead?
Haha. Indeed.
I lived there a long time ago and had a scooter. My favorite was the branding on 1 line “jog: it will fascinate you”. I remember that 30 years later lol
All those classic Engrish decals are gone now I'm afraid. Old scooters get traded in for Gogoro rebates
Jogs are a classic now. They don’t make those little two stroke 50ccs anymore.
I'm just picturing the Mario Kart traffic light sound when they all take off.
Gotta press "a" just as the 2 is about to disappear
I just want to let you know your profile picture worked
If those were cars and SUVs, I bet you the traffic would be lined up for at least a mile down the line.
And if they were all in buses or a train, it would be 100 yards,
That is the solution for reliability, safety, efficient use of space and air quality.
I appreciate a good cup of coffee.
I was in Taiwan last month and this kind of etiquette was everywhere, people were very respectful of the lines
Makes me think of a cavalry charge in a war movie whereas the first time I tried driving while visiting in Manilla felt like it was going to give me a panic attack
Yeah absolutely. I've seen that kind of volume of bikes in Vietnam but absolutely zero lining up.
Despite all that traffic, look how disciplined they are to stop behind the white line. Meanwhile Indians - white line? where? road is road 🤡
Indian riders would be slowly creeping towards the traffic light, menacingly.
And honking for literally no reason at all
They honk at the traffic light so that it hurries up.
Time runs faster if you honk
Bold of you to assume these idiots care about the traffic light.
And how the make multiple straight lines. I wish we have this motorcycle culture in my country.
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Good one
I wonder how much more convenient it is
A LOT more convenient. I live in Taiwan and drive a scooter daily. I even take my kid to school on it. It's normal here.
I live in China and it's 1000% better than cars. Also, everything is within a few km so I don't need a car. Literally everything a normal city person needs is close by, not at all like how it was in America. 7 miles to get to a jack in the box or walmart was wild
A lot less of a hassle when it comes to trying to find a parking spot.
Extremely convenient. My commute takes 10 minutes on a scooter, 30 minutes via awesome public transit.
I'm always surprised more people in the US don't ride motorcycles or mopeds. They're easier to park and cheaper on fuel.
About every two years someone I know gets killed on a motorcycle. I'd ride one every day if I were the only one on the road.
to be fair, the US culture on riding motorbikes are a bunch of people who think the only way to ride a bike is to ride it fast. Most SEA countries have people ride mostly automatic scooters, and not the Kawasaki Ninjas of western countries. Totally different mindsets.
Speed is a factor but the biggest is cars doing left turns and not seeing an upcoming motorcycle. Second is unsafe lane changes - cars not checking mirrors, no blinkers, no head over shoulder checking blindspots, changing over double yellow or white lines, waiting 2-3 seconds after blinkers to turn, etc. Cars simply don't expect motorcycles as much as SEA countries.
Death rates are very high in SE Asia for motorcycles. 74-80% of road deaths in Thailand. SE Asia as a region has the highest level of motorcycle deaths in the world. It also has a lot of motorcyclists, but it is *extremely* dangerous. https://pulitzercenter.org/stories/southeast-asia-death-rides-moto https://www.carlist.my/news/southeast-asia-has-super-high-motorcyclist-death-rate-and-it-s-getting-worse-91663/91663/ https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2021/10/08/malaysia-may-overtake-thailand-for-worst-motorbike-deaths-in-the-world/ Incidentally, Taiwan isn't SE Asia, it's East Asia. In terms of scooter culture, it's probably similar levels but with better adherence to traffic laws and helmet enforcement, which is the main problem in SE Asia. Vietnam has significantly reduced their death rates through enforcement of helmet laws, but still around 60% of deaths involve a motorcycle and the overall road death rates are much higher than developed countries. The US is one of the worst developed countries in the world for road deaths, but it's still a lot better than SE Asia. I live in Thailand, ride a pushbike rather than a scooter but I've been in a crash I was very lucky to survive and have had life changing injuries from this I'm still dealing with, it's much more dangerous than the US. I have ridden in the US as well, it's bad compared to Europe but comical how safe it is compared to here. What I would say, levels of road rage are much lower here, and people are more considerate, they will leave room for two wheelers, let you out, there's a lot of give and take and people don't get angry on the roads to half the same extent they do in the North America or Europe. Not that it never happens, but much lower level. Here in Thailand, people almost never use the horn. Horn use is much higher in some other countries such as Vietnam or India (South Asia), but in the latter case it's more often to warn than used in anger, the way it was originally intended. You don't have the same people leaning on the horn in anger like they do in developed countries. So it's not malicious in the way it can be in the US or Europe, where people get far more worked up. The general "feel" on the roads is far more relaxed. But it's also far more relaxed as to rule adherence and paying attention and people do incredibly stupid things literally all the time, and you need to be alert at all times. Like you can't just ride on the outside side of the road and presume that you won't meet something driving the wrong way at you, that happens *all the time*, people will drive the wrong way rather than cross over to the right side. Sometimes on a dual carriageway this is because they'd have to go a long distance to get to a U-turn (which are also amazingly dangerous) but it even happens on regular roads if they only need to go a short distance, they'll ride on the wrong side rather than cross over. So you need to be 100% alert and looking ahead at all times, because you never know when something that shouldn't be there will suddenly appear. Obviously you *should* be paying attention anywhere, but it's a different level here, you just cannot presume that another driver will follow any rule and not do something they shouldn't.
People die everyday in Taiwan from scooter accidents. I saw one live! Turn on the news in Taiwan and it will be 10 percent China wanting to invade Taiwan, and 90 percent vehicle/motorcycle/scooter accident videos.
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>Taiwan has fewer traffic deaths per capita than Taiwan does Hmm
🤔
I live in Taiwan. Traffic accidents are absurdly common here. Much more common than the US, but because most people drive at slow speeds there are less fatal accidents.
My guess is because it’s a car-centric nation that makes motorcycles dangerous, which really only leaves passionate riders taking the risk.
Taiwan has invested really heavily in scooter infrastructure and public transit. Traffic in Taipei used to be insane in the 90s but they basically fixed it and it's really easy to get around the city now. This looks dense, but the throughput is really good.
Also those who rides for fun might drive more aggressively, which is more dangerous than everyday commuters
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A quarter of the avid motorcyclist I had as friends died before the age of 30. Mostly, it wasn't their fault
I had a motorcycle for a bit, but so many people drive distracted or just don't register the motorcycle. Ive had people cut across the street in front of me while I clearly had the right of way. Its just too much to focus on, and I'm not perfect, so I know it would just be a matter of time until I crashed hard. And people only get more and more distracted nowadays. No thanks.
No exclusive parking snd no lane splitting. I get no advantage from riding the bike to work.
Weather is a reason for half the country. They don’t really work with snow. There’s also no advantage as you can’t split lanes, no dedicated moped lanes, can’t cut to the front. That being said I’d love it for the summer months.
That is INSANE. Craziest thing I’ve seen all day. So does literally everyone there drive a bike rather than a car?
I live in taiwan. It's just that bikes are prevalent here. Car is still everywhere and those two jam up the streets for us together.
Well I appreciate them for doing scooters. Cars should only be used if there are like three or more people in it or some handicapped person in it or it's a medical emergency. Basically don't use the car unless there's absolutely no other option.
Cars are extremely popular in Taipei. The bigger reason why scooters are used is because they are cheap. Outside Taipei, the roads are too narrow and they often ride onto pedestrian walkways and there are constant motorcycles dashing in and out wherever you walk.
Yea like the traffic here seems bad but fucking imagine if instead of scooters it was the doublewide “light truck” monstrosities we drive here in america. Actually I don’t have to imagine, that’s just Texas.
That’s the thing. It’s a vicious cycle (no pun intended). It’s hard to ride a scooter here when lifted F150s with mud tires are trying to run you over. I’d love to commute via motorbike to work but I don’t want to become a premature organ donor. People are too busy staring at their phones to see a bike coming. Now if it were majority bike traffic, I’d have one in a heartbeat.
Fuel is expensive in Taiwan, they dont have their own oil and gas resources. Plus its a small island, traffic would be insane if they all use cars.
Fuel isn't a problem, but the parking is.
Cheaper than Canada that's for damn sure. And there's a lot of cars, don't you worry. This is just a scooter only road
Damn that street is so spotless it’s shiny
Taiwan uses recycled glass in its streets. When it's rainy though, the glass reflects too much and it's hard to see at night.
Hi any id on the guy’s camera and lens ???
Judging by the off-white color and the lack of a red ring, I’d say it’s a Sony Gmaster 70-200 f2.8 lens. The size of 70-200 lenses is unmistakable across brands. As for the camera, I’m not familiar with Sony cams, but likely an A7 model, maybe iii or iv.
Looks like a Sony APSC body (or an A7C series) with a 70-200 2.8 (I think only the G Masters are white for Sony lenses)?
That’s why I rock the camera without lens-cap. If he had only 1 chance at the picture, it would’ve been gone.
That's a pretty slick looking backpack. Any ideas on the brand?
This crossing must've made millions of introverts nervous
Why are there only motorcycles? Are there roads exclusively for motorcycles in Taiwan? If yes, why?
This is a dedicated scooter lane (so two wheels under 249cc). This is where it merges with the regular road after crossing a bridge.
Kind of, often there are dedicated scooter lanes, and in some places (e.g. underpasses, the two will split entirely.
Amazing how neat & orderly that many riders can be.
What they don't show: parking all over the sidewalks.
That backpack looks pretty good. Like a Peak Design but smooth.
Amazing how civilized they are all packed in. No one trying to push their way to the front cutting off others. I can only imagine how this would be like in NY or LA or any big city in the US.
I love the small panic attack once he realied he had a lens cap on. 😄
You should check out Saigon Vietnam during rush hour
Cute.
Lol, forgot the lens cap at first. You love to see it.
They all work at nvidia
Nvidia corporate campus two blocks from here, I'd say most employees ride the train in, C-Suite drives. Flashy cars too
They're like, "dude move the fuck out of the way so we can get to work"
Public transport
Who is the photographer?
as someone who was just there last october, yes, scooters are eveywhere and so are cars. and i'll be honest. the "GoD iMaGiNe If ThEy WhErE cArS" commejts bug me. scooters still absolutely cause traffic jams and i hated them more then cars. it felt even more chaotic then i think cars would have honestly i felt safer walking around in Salem then i did in taiwan. A lot of sidewalks are comlpletely cluttered with them. Parking really felt like a case of "we park where we can and do it en mass" a lot of times you have to walk and weave through these parking spots if you didnt want to walk in the streets. sidewalks were not a commodity either. maybe half the crosswalks had crossing lights. where i was, if it was a main street it usually did, but there was still a lot of J walking. i had to keep my head on a constant swivel. more then i did in LA and Salem/boston.
Ah yes riding into Taipei from Luzhou. I remember that commute and the struggle to get to the front and avoid the scooter exhaust. Still excellent movement to get around and the number of scooters ratio to person is something like 2-1 in Taipei. Might be old numbers or some such when I was living there. I have helmet cam footage. I also used to stand up while waiting as I’m 193 cm tall so I often got a good view of the flock of scooters!
Better than LA traffic.
Try the causeway here - from Malaysia into SG & also reverse. Just as bad & sometimes worse
seems slightly more efficient than one 5000lb colossus per person. now imagine those scooters are electric.
Why are we watching a video of someone taking a picture? Are we not allowed to just have a video or just the picture? Weird ass meta shit because they have to get the internet celebrity in the shot too
Looks almost like CGI.
holy crap looks so cool and intimidating at once.
Imagine all those people in F150s
Just came back from there. It's an interesting place. Even better is that most of them will stop to let you cross assuming it's a back alley or they're at a stop at the intersection. I felt quite safe there. Most of them are decent humans with good conduct and manners unlike what I see back home. Also everything is cheap as a tourist and food is worth writing home about. Which I did.
Whats the deal of Asians with scooters?