Taiwan Transit 1 city
Taipei's MRT is the easy one — clean, colour-coded, signed in English throughout, and it reaches the night markets, the hot springs and the airport.
How to ride
The full written guide for each city — fares, the interchanges that matter, rides worth planning around, and local etiquette. Tap a city to open its guide.
Taipei — the MRT
Taipei's MRT is one of the easiest metros in Asia for a visitor. It's clean and quiet, every sign and announcement is in English, the trains are frequent, and fares are cheap and by distance. Buy a rechargeable EasyCard (悠遊卡) at any station or convenience store — it works on the metro, buses, the Maokong Gondola, YouBike share bikes, and even to pay at 7-Eleven. Tap in and tap out at the gates.
What it costs (indicative)
| Ride | Typical fare | Good to know |
|---|---|---|
| Single MRT journey | ~NT$20–65 | By distance; most city trips are NT$20–30 |
| EasyCard rides | 20% off | Stored-value card knocks the fare down automatically |
| Airport MRT (express) | ~NT$150 | Taipei Main ↔ Taoyuan Airport (TPE) in ~35–40 min |
| Maokong Gondola | ~NT$120 | From Taipei Zoo (Brown line) up into the tea hills |
Fares are indicative and change with distance and promotions — treat them as ballpark, not gospel.
The interchanges that matter
- Taipei Main Station — the giant central hub where the Red and Blue metro lines, the Airport MRT, and high-speed and regular rail all meet. Easy to get lost in; follow the colour-coded signs.
- Zhongxiao Fuxing — Blue line meets the Brown Wenhu line, in the middle of the SOGO department-store shopping belt.
- CKS Memorial Hall — Red meets Green at the Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial and its huge ceremonial plaza.
- Ximen — Blue meets Green at Ximending, Taipei's neon pedestrian shopping quarter.
- Guting & Dongmen — the Orange line's crossings with Green and Red; Dongmen is the stop for Yongkang Street and the original Din Tai Fung.
Rides worth planning around
- Taipei 101 & the view — Red line to Taipei 101/World Trade Center, or one more stop to Xiangshan for the Elephant Mountain climb and the classic skyline photo.
- Beitou hot springs & Tamsui sunsets — ride the Red line north: Beitou for the thermal bathhouses, all the way to Tamsui for the riverside old street at dusk.
- Night markets — Jiantan (Red) for Shilin, Songshan (Green) for Raohe, Longshan Temple (Blue) for the old town.
- Maokong Gondola — take the Brown line to its southern end at Taipei Zoo and ride the cable car up to the tea houses.
- Taoyuan Airport (TPE) — the purple Airport MRT runs from Taipei Main Station; the express takes about 35–40 minutes.
Etiquette & tickets
- No eating or drinking anywhere in the paid area — not even water or gum. It's enforced with fines, and locals take it seriously.
- The dark-blue priority seats are left empty out of courtesy even when the carriage is full.
- Queue on the platform markings, and stand on the right of escalators.
- Grab an EasyCard — it's cheaper than single tickets and works on almost everything.