Tainan is a good city for a bike. It's flat, YouBike public bikes are parked all over it, and there are bike paths around the Anping canal and out along the coast. For a visitor, the easy option is a YouBike rented with a credit card in the YouBike app: no membership needed.
We couldn't find bike rental shops we can vouch for, so we point people to YouBike, including the 2.0E e-bikes for longer or hotter rides. For routes, bikes on trains and the rules of the road, we point you to Cycle.tw, a cycling guide for all of Taiwan. Below: how to rent a YouBike, what it costs, and where to find the rides.
YouBike for visitors
YouBike 2.0 arrived in Tainan on 23 February 2023 with 77 stations and 800 bikes, replacing the old T-Bike system. It has grown fast: more than 700 YouBike stations (July 2026), with stations in all 37 districts since November 2025, reaching as far as Yujing, Nanhua, Dongshan and Baihe. The city's target is 825 stations and 8,000 bikes by the end of 2026. Since April 2023 there are also YouBike 2.0E pedal-assist e-bikes, which use the same docks.
Renting with a credit card (single rental). YouBike's own site says single rental suits foreign tourists. Download the official app (listed as YouBike微笑單車 官方版 on the App Store, by YouBike Co., Ltd.), log in or register, tap single rental (單次租車), verify your email and link a credit card. Then tap scan to rent (掃碼借車), scan the QR code on the bike's screen and pull the bike out when the screen tells you to. To return it, push it into any empty dock and wait for the screen to confirm the return (還車成功).
The card hold. A single rental pre-authorizes NT$3,000 on your card, for YouBike 2.0 and 2.0E alike. It is released after a normal return; the authorization can last up to 120 hours, and how quickly it disappears from your statement depends on your bank.
| Bike | Fare |
|---|---|
| YouBike 2.0 | NT$10 per 30 minutes for the first 4 hours, NT$20 per 30 minutes from 4 to 8 hours, NT$40 per 30 minutes after 8 hours |
| YouBike 2.0E (e-bike) | NT$20 per 30 minutes for the first 2 hours, NT$40 per 30 minutes after that |
Part of a 30-minute block counts as a full block. Members and single renters pay the same rates. The city's discounts (half price with a Tainan Citizen Card, the first 30 minutes free with TPASS, both running through 31 December 2026) are for residents and commuters, and single credit-card rentals don't get them. There is no visitor discount.
Becoming a member. You can also register an EasyCard or iPASS and tap to rent, but you need a Taiwan mobile number for the SMS code. A passport or ARC number is accepted as ID. For a short trip, the credit card route is simpler.
Help. YouBike's Tainan customer service line is 06-3009966, 24 hours a day. → Getting around Tainan
Bike routes, trains and road rules
For where to ride, see Cycle.tw's guide to Tainan bikeways. It maps the rides from the old city out to the coast and the countryside: the canal to Anping, the Yanshui River levee, Wushantou, Houbi's lotus fields and the Beimen salt fields, and it says where a route shares the road with traffic. With only an afternoon, start with the Tainan canal loop, a flat, easy ride between Anping and West Central District with YouBike stations along the way. → Anping neighborhood guide
For longer rides, Cycle.tw has route guides for the Yanshui River levee from Anping to Sicao, the Shanhaizhen Greenway from Nanke Station to the Museum of Taiwan History, the Beimen salt fields and the rice and lotus country of Houbi and Baihe.
A YouBike can't go on a train. If you bring your own bike, Cycle.tw explains taking a bike on trains and the MRT and Taiwan's road rules for cyclists.
One local warning: the Golden Coast in South District has a bike path beside the beach, but the beach is a known rip-current spot, not a swimming beach. Enjoy the ride and the sand, and stay out of the water.
Sources
YouBike history and growth from Tainan City Government (2023 launch, YouBike 2.0E, Transportation Bureau) and UDN. Fares and rental from YouBike (fares, single rental, ways to rent, membership) and the city's discount notice. Golden Coast water safety from the Liberty Times report on the National Audit Office's drowning hotspots. Checked November 2026.