Taipei Public Transport Tips: What I Learned Using the MRT, Buses & EasyCard

Disclosure: This posts may contain affiliate links. I may make a small commission on purchases made after clicking the link. I do my best to try and keep information up-to-date but please check direct with businesses for current opening times and prices. For more information visit the Privacy & Disclosure Policy. Thank you for your support!

Getting around Taipei was easier than I expected and I found the public transport a joy to use! I used the MRT, the public buses, tourist buses, Airport Express, Tamsui ferry, the Maokong Gondola and the EasyCard was my best friend! Here’s what I learned from my visit as a first time visitor to Taiwan.

My Taipei Transport Setup: Everything I Used as a Visitor

I had a week in Taipei, which I used as a base to visit other places, and then I had stays in Jiufen, Beitou and Taoyuan. Everywhere I visited could be reached as an easy day trip from Taipei, but I did want to stay in a few areas outside of the city, just for a change of scenery.

@englandandeverywhere

Things to know about using the public transport in and around Taipei in Taiwan 🇹🇼 I found the EasyCard very useful. You can use it for multiple things but I mostly just saved it for public transport. I used it on the MRT, buses and the ferry. The stations are a good place to use the toilet and fill up bottles with free drinking water. Also, don’t forget to collect the unique stamps at every station in Taipei! #taiwantravel #taiwantrip #tiktoktaiwan🇹🇼 #taipei #taipeitravel

♬ original sound – Kylie✈️Budget Conscious Travel

Here’s everything that I recommend based on my visit.

💳 EasyCard

As mentioned, I LOVED the convenience of using an EasyCard. It can be used to pay for the:

• MRT
• local buses
• tourist buses
• Tamsui ferry
• some attractions (such as the Maokong Gondola)
• as well as for payment in some shops.

I decided to keep mine purely for transportation, as you do have to keep topping it up, and I always wanted to make sure it had enough on it to cover the journeys I needed to make. It’s not so bad if you are close to running out at the MRT as it’s easy to top up at the stations, but you have to have enough for bus journeys.

(For attractions/tours, I pre-booked them on Klook so they could go straight onto my credit card, and for things I bought in 7-11, FamilyMart etc, I often then just used cash. Coming from the UK, using my credit card gave me the best exchange rate, compared to changing and using cash.)

Where To Buy

You can buy EasyCards from several different locations. If you want fun designs, or even unique shapes such as key rings, 7-11 is a good place to go. You can top them up here too.

I pre-booked my EasyCard* on Klook, and selected the option to have one already pre-loaded with $400. This meant I could pay for it using my credit card, and I collected it at the airport from a kiosk in arrivals. I ended up topping mine up with around another $600 (for a 2 week trip).

Apparently you can get a refund for any remaining balance at the airport when you leave. Rather than do this, I just topped up as and when I needed to.

Where & How To Top Up

From my research, I had read that it can only be topped up with cash, in all honesty because of this, I never attempted to try and use a credit card, I just made sure I had enough cash. They can be topped up in:

• convenience stores (like 7-11)
• and MRT stations (from the self service kiosks or the information desks)

I mostly just topped it up whether I passed through an MRT station. On the self service kiosks you can check your balance and then top up with however much you want. If I knew I was close to running out, a few times I just used the information desk. I would hand over the amount I wanted in cash, plus my EasyCard. There was never a language barrier problem when doing this and the machines had an English option too.

📱 Apps I Used to Navigate Taipei

I found the following apps really helpful when planning my trip and while I was in Taipei:

Go!Taipei Metro

• MRT routes
• planning journeys
• station information

This app was brilliant! There were several different filters you could use on the map that would give you a general overview of how much it would cost to travel between stations (great for planning how much I might need to top up with) and the travel time between stations, along with some other options.

You could then also do route planning, where it would tell you want lines you needed, where to change, what direction the train would be going in, and how long it would take. It also gave more information about what facilities were at the different stations.

Taiwan Bus

• live arrivals/tracker
• route planning

The Taiwan Bus app ONLY worked while in Taiwan, I couldn’t access it before I left, so I couldn’t use it for planning in that sense. It had all the different bus routes, and each bus would have a live tracker. You could see how far away the bus was from the stop and when it would be arriving.

Then, while I was on the bus, the tracker number was usually displayed at the front of the bus, so I would use the app to see how far I had to go until I needed to get off.

During my visit there was a Typhoon, and I found the Taiwan Bus app to be more accurate than Google Maps when some of the buses were running on slightly different schedules.

Google Maps

• comparing options
• walking directions
• combining MRT + buses

For the most part, I found Google Maps to be good for walking directions, comparing options and combining the MRT and buses.

For example, when I went to Wulai, most people on social media will say to get the MRT and then the bus. Yes it is the ‘quicker’ option.

However, I was staying near Taipei Main Station and on Google Maps it showed that the SAME connecting bus left from pretty much outside my hotel. So rather than connect, I sat on the bus for the full journey, which also meant I got a seat (people that joined at the last MRT stop all had to stand).

🏨 Why Staying Near Taipei Main Station Helped

• Airport connection
• Easy transfers
• Convenience

After a long haul flight from London, and I knew I would be arriving potentially in the hours of darkness, I decided to stay at the Lin Inn TMS, very close to Taipei Main Station.

The Airport Express arrives into Taipei Main Station and I knew I could then walk the rest of the way to my hotel, without having to go somewhere else on the MRT.

A slight problem is that Taipei Main Station is HUGE. It’s a bit like an underground rabbit warren with tunnels EVERYWHERE, and would take me ages to walk between exits! Even after spending over a week in Taipei, I don’t think I ever fully found my way around!

It is handy though, because there are so many connections all in one area. If I return, I may be tempted to stay in a different area of the city, but as a first time visitor it was helpful being right on top of the main hub.

What Is the Best Way to Get Around Taipei?

Transport	Best for
MRT	Most sightseeing
Bus	Areas MRT doesn’t reach
Airport Express	Airport transfers
Tourist buses	Day trips
Gondola	Maokong visit

Airport Transfers: Using the Airport Express

I decided to pay extra to get the ‘faster’ purple line Airport Express from Taipei Taoyuan International Airport into the city centre. It leaves approximately every 15 minutes and takes 36 minutes. (The blue commuter line is cheaper but takes 50 minutes).

Again, like the EasyCard, I pre-booked the Airport Express* separately on Klook. I could then collect the tokens from a kiosk at the airport. Because I booked a return journey, it did mean I had to keep my second token safe in my wallet for the rest of the trip.

When you get to the barrier, you touch the token on the contactless point on the top to get through, and then to exit you put the token into a coin slot.

The train was quite busy though, in both directions I was unable to get a seat and had to stand. There were luggage racks where you could put suitcases etc though.

It was super easy to use though. All the stops are announced in English, as well as Chinese. I also found it very helpful that the stations lit up on a map too, so you could visualise exactly where you were.

Using the Taipei MRT: Everything Tourists Need to Know

With my EasyCard and the Go!Taipei Metro app, the MRT was a breeze. Similar to the Airport Express, everything was in English and it was efficient and clean. As mentioned, you can top up the EasyCard at the stations and then simply touch in and touch out at the barriers.

Many of the stations had multiple exits, but there were maps that would show you where the main attractions were and which exit was best to exit from.

Something that surprised me, coming from London, is just how organised and respectful people are when using the MRT.

For the most part, everyone speaks quietly, there is no eating or drinking on the trains (although you can carry food or drinks), everyone lines up to get on the train (follow the lines printed on the ground) and if an elderly person/pregnant person etc gets on the train, people will give up their seats. They even have ‘family carriages‘ that have educational pictures and vocabulary on the walls!

There are 6 main lines: Brown, Red (plus a pink branch line), Orange, Yellow, Green and Blue. You can reach a lot of the main attractions just by using these lines.

Station Facilities

Toilets

Something I found extremely convenient was that the MRT stations were a guaranteed place to find free public toilets. The stations would often have both Western toilets and squat toilets. Apparently if the toilets were the ‘wrong side’ of the ticket barrier and would wanted to use them, you could ask the information desk for a free token that would temporarily let you through the barrier. (I just used them whenever I was passing through).

Drinking Water

Another thing I found all over Taipei were free drinking water fountains and most of the stations had one, so make sure to always carry a bottle to fill up! (Especially on hot days! I visited in November and on a few days the temperature was mid 20c)

Shops/Food Outlets & Other Facilities

In many of the larger stations, they had shops (including 7-11) or kiosks where you could buy food and drinks to go. One station (Beimen) even had a free museum! It was built around some excavated ruins which now have a glass floor over the top, and information boards explaining the history!

MRT Stamp Collections

One of my favourite souvenirs in Taiwan was stamp collecting! I pre-booked a stamp journal* on Klook, that I picked up from the airport from the same place as my EasyCard collection. Every station on the Taipei MRT has their own unique stamp.

9 times out of 10 you could find them near the information kiosk close to the ticket barrier. The location of them varied, sometimes they would be on the ‘free’ side, and at some stations they would be on the track side of the barrier. When arriving at a new station from the MRT, I would look for the stamp before exiting through the barrier.

At a few stations you had to ask the person at the kiosk as they were kept inside the booth. Often I would wait until the lines had gone as I didn’t want to slow down people who needed to buy tickets.

You can also find stamps at many of the attractions, temples, tourist information centres and cafes.

Taking Taipei Buses as a Tourist

I sometimes feel a little nervous taking buses, they aren’t like trains that are stuck to a track! The buses in Taipei weren’t too bad though. With a combination of Google Maps directing me to the bus stops, and the Taiwan Bus app, I found them quite easy to navigate.

I would use Google Maps to show me the route, the bus number and the approximate frequency, and then I could find the bus number on the Taiwan Bus app to track it in real time. Once I found the area of the bus stop, all I had to do was find the corresponding number on either on the post or on a nearby sign.

When it comes, you can put your arm out the stop it. A GREAT thing about the EasyCard is that you don’t have to worry about trying to communicate with the driver to buy tickets etc. You simply touch the EasyCard on the touch pad near the driver to start the journey.

The bus stops were announced in Chinese and in English. When you get close, press the stop bell. The MOST IMPORTANT THING is that you have to then use the EasyCard to TOUCH OUT when you get off. This calculates the total fare. I always made sure my EasyCard had enough on the balance to cover any bus journeys I would be taking before I could get to an MRT station again to check the balance/top up.

On some of the popular routes and bus stops, they had marked lines on the ground that you use to line up. For example, when I took the local bus to Wulai, I got on at a stop near Taipei Main Station. Because it wasn’t a popular stop for this bus, there wasn’t a queue line. However, at Xindian station, at the end of the green MRT line, there was a queuing system here.

In the reverse in Wulai heading back towards Taipei, there was another queue for the bus stop. The first bus that came was full, so I did then have to wait for a second one to come, so keep this in mind with the popular routes.

Using Taipei Transport for Day Trips

Similar to using the local bus to get to Wulai, here are a couple of other day trip options from Taipei and which transport options you can use!

Maokong Gondola

Maokong is worth checking out (one of my favourite hikes to Yinhe Cave was up here!). It’s a tea growing area up in the hills that is reached via the Maokong Gondola (or the public bus). Because I was staying near Taipei Main Station, I first took the MRT to the Taipei Zoo, then transferred to the gondola, which is a short walk from the station.

The Maokong Gondola can be paid for using an EasyCard. However, like the Airport Express, I pre-booked my ticket* on Klook with combined entry to Taipei Zoo. On arrival, I just had to show my QR code.

I visited on a day that was a little rainy, so the views across the city were a bit hazy. There are a few different stations, but I rode it all the way to the top. I did my hike (that took a couple of hours), had a tea ice cream and then took the cable car back down.

Because I had it combined with the zoo, I got off at the ‘top’ zoo station, scanned my QR code again, and then took the road train shuttle to the zoo entrance. It makes for a nice full day trip.

Something to note is that the Maokong Gondola is sometimes closed on a Monday. The zoo remains open on a Monday, however one the first Monday of the month, when the gondola DOES open, the indoor panda house is closed. So you may have to decide if it’s worth visiting if you specifically want to see the panda, they only go outside in certain weather conditions.

Jiufen Tourist Bus

For some destinations they run specific ‘tourist’ buses, such as to Jiufen. Rather than being aimed at ‘tourists’, they seem to just be for the popular ‘tourist’ ROUTES. When I used it, it was completely full with locals (who go off BEFORE Jiufen) and only about 5 tourists actually managed to get on the bus.

Bus 965 is a coach, rather than a bus. It cost 90NTD and took around 50 minutes to get from Taipei to Jiufen. It stops at Ximen and Beimen. Both Beimen and Jiufen had queuing systems for the bus.

In hindsight it’s probably better to get on at Ximen. By the time it got to Beimen, it was almost completely full. It’s a little bit different from the local buses, because the bus goes on the highway and you HAVE to wear a seat belt, once the seats were full, no one else could get on (until Ruifang, where it then went on the smaller roads).

The last bus back to Taipei from Jiufen is at 9pm, so plan accordingly and join the line early, in case it fills up.

Just like the local buses though, you touch the EasyCard when you get on AND off. As it was travelling further away, the fare was higher, so make sure you have enough for the journey.

Bus 965 is the most convenient, especially if you’re not used to the different routes or may be travelling with luggage. There are a couple of other buses or the train that you can get (for part of the way), but they do involve multiple connections and take a lot longer than the direct bus.

Taipei Transport Costs

Correct at the time of writing:

• MRT rides: 20-65NTD depending on distance.
• Bus fares: my cheapest fare was 15NTD, the most expensive was 90NTD
• Airport Express return: 286NTD (on Klook)
• Moakong Gondola: 300NTD (399NTD with zoo ticket on Klook)

Read my full cost breakdown here: Is Taiwan Expensive to Travel? My Travel Budget Breakdown!

Taipei Transport Tips Before You Go

Checklist:

• Download Google Maps, Go!Tapei Metro & Taiwan Bus
• Get EasyCard immediately
• Keep some cash for topping up at machines in the MRT stations
• Allow extra time for transfers/full buses
• Check the first/last MRT times