Last Updated: 201601

London has Oyster Card, Hong Kong has Octopus, Taiwan of course also as something along the lines of electronic tickets that can save travelers time and money when moving through the city.

Taiwan's Electronic Tickets are fairly similar to Japan's system. Different vendors issue their own tickets,and most of the tickets are interchangeable under common situations. Aside from saving the trouble of keeping and learning about the coin changes, there's also a 20% discount whenever taking the metros, and the most awesome part is that even KFC takes the card.

Right now for most of the travelers, your most common and readily available choice are going to be EasyCard and iPASS, which are the two cards we're going to introduce to you.

How to Purchase the Card

• Easy Card: Taoyuan International Airport Electronic Ticketing Joint Service Counters, Taiwan's four major chained convenience store, and Taipei Metro's Taipei Main Station
  • Rental Type: NT. 100 per card, within each card has a NT.100 deposit, available fund is NT.0 (If the card is refunded within three months and more than 5 uses, NT.80 partial deposit will be refunded)
  • Buyout Type: NT. 100 per card, excluding the deposit and available fund, non-refundable
• iPASS: Taiwan's four major chained convenience store, Taipei Metro's Taipei Main Station, Kaosiung Metro stations
  • Buyout Type: NT. 100 per card, excluding the deposit and available fund, non-refundable

Where Can I Use it?

Metro Transportation Channels

• Metro(MRTs): EasyCard can only be used in Taipei Metro as of right now, but iPASS can be used on both Kaosiung metro and Taipei metro.
  • Taiwanese Railways(TRA): Both EasyCard and iPASS can be used, but only in between Suao = Keelung = Chaozhou. This route includes each of the branch lines but not the Alishan Forest Railway
  • City Buses¹ : Depending on the light signal, it'll let you know whether to pay when boarding or exiting. But when the bus crosses the fare zone then you'll have to pay in whichever case.
  • Highway Buses¹ : Tap to Pay on both boarding AND exiting.
  • City Wide Public Bikes: For examples like Taipei's YouBike and Kaohsiung's CityBike, you can simply register online or at the Kiosk, then tap to pay for the bike.

For a more complete coverage on how you can use the cards, please check EasyCard and iPASS their official websites.

Paying for Goods at Stores

When shopping in places such as convenience stores, fast food stores, or select night markets, you might be able to use EasyCard or iPASS to pay for it. Generally if the store or stand accepts this form of payment, there will be stickers or signs at the front door and the tap to pay area near the checkout counter.

For stores that have announce that they take EasyCard payments please click here, for stores that have announce that they take iPASS payments please click here.

How to Re-Load

• EasyCard: Can be reloaded at any stations of Taipei Metro(even in the forms of coins), or at any convenience store with an EasyCard sticker(only in the multiples of NT.100)
• iPASS: Can be reloaded at any stations of Taipei Metro, any re-charge machines at Kaohsiung metro, and the convenience stores.

Final Words: So Which One Should I Choose?

After so much information, still can't figure out which card to choose? Here's some realistic advice:

There's really no major differences between the two types of cards. If your journey mostly covers the Taipei city area then EasyCard would be your first choice since it also covers smaller transactions. If you're also traveling to Kaohsiung, then iPASS can also be a viable choice. After all the difference is really down to the stores or vendors that can take the electronic payments. If comparing on this aspect, then EasyCard would be the choice to go due to its availability.

Translated by Nasha

[starbox id=2]