Minsheng East/West Road

Pretty standard road.  Nothing to watch out for and nothing very scenic.  It's a typical road you'd expect in an urban jungle and you can get across the north part of the city in 15-20 minutes depending on traffic conditions.

The roundabout on Minsheng East

East end of Minsheng East

The road widens up as you near the center of the city

Room to share with scooters and cars

Narrows back to two lanes when you hit Minsheng West

Minsheng West

The Roads Less Traveled

Most if not all the smaller side roads in the residential pockets of Taipei are ridable.  They're safe enough, quiet and you can work out a more direct route to your destination.  And it's great if your goal is to just meander through and take in the sights, sounds, and smells.

But when you're just trying to get across town I dislike using them for a few reasons:

• It can get pretty tight on some of them when cars pass.
• A lot of them are one way and because they're in a more isolated environment, scooters are more inclined to bend the rules and go the wrong way on these roads.
• Unlike other cities, the roads are not lined up in perfect grids.  They're subject to end abruptly and you end up taking a bit of a detour to get back on track
• Instead of stop signs at every corner (because most of the smaller streets are one way), there is a convex mirror to peek around the corner and you can make the decision on whether you need to slow down or not.  This is just something that I haven't gotten used to.  I just have a thing where I like a direct line of sight and the way the city blocks are, it doesn't afford that.  Plus it doesn't help that a lot of these mirrors are not aligned properly.

Typical residential street.

Check the mirror.  Don't get side-swiped.