The Taipei Metro is spotlessly clean, ruthlessly punctual and absurdly cheap — fares start at just NT$20 and almost every attraction in the city is a short walk from a station. This guide gets you riding with confidence from the moment you arrive.
The Taipei Metro (捷運, Jiéyùn) is a network of six colour-coded lines and more than 130 stations spanning Taipei and New Taipei City. Launched in 1996, it is consistently ranked among the world's cleanest and most punctual metro systems — trains run every 2–5 minutes during peak hours and the network reaches every major attraction in the city.
Fares are distance-based, starting at just NT$20 (~USD 0.60) for short hops and topping out at NT$65 for the longest cross-city journeys. Use an EasyCard and you get roughly 20% off every single ride — plus the same card works on city buses, Maokong Gondola, convenience stores and YouBike. One card for the whole trip.
Fares: NT$20–65 per journey · EasyCard gives ~20% off every ride · NT$1 ≈ USD 0.031
Operating hours: Approx. 06:00–00:00 daily · trains every 2–5 min (peak) · 5–10 min (off-peak)
Buy your EasyCard: NT$100 card fee + top-up · available at any MRT station, 7-Eleven, FamilyMart or Taoyuan Airport on arrival
Klook delivers EasyCard to the airport or your hotel (~NT$200) so you skip the MRT counter queue. Fun Pass (NT$1,200+) and Unlimited Pass (NT$180+) also available — pick whichever fits your trip.
Learn the colours and you will never get lost. All lines interconnect at major interchange stations.
The longest and busiest line, running north (Tamsui) to south (Xiangshan / Elephant Mountain). Key stops: Taipei Main Station · Zhongxiao Xinsheng · Daan Park · Taipei City Hall · Elephant Mountain. Covers Xinyi district, Taipei 101 and the riverside at Tamsui.
Runs east–west through the city core. Key stops: Taipei Main Station · Zhongxiao Fuxing · Zhongxiao Dunhua · Sun Yat-sen Memorial · Taipei City Hall. The main shopping corridor — SOGO, Breeze Centre and Eslite Spectrum are all on this line. Connects to the Red line at Main Station.
Green (Songshan–Xindian) — passes NTU Hospital, Guting, Zhongshan, Songshan Airport. Orange (Zhonghe–Xinlu) — Zhongshan, Nanjing Fuxing. Brown (Wenhu) — elevated line, Neihu tech district to Taipei Zoo. Yellow (Circular) — loop line around New Taipei City suburbs.
From buying your card to getting your money back at the end — everything a first-time visitor needs.
The EasyCard (悠遊卡) is a reloadable contactless card that replaces individual tickets for every journey. Buy one at any MRT station Service Counter — including at Taoyuan Airport's Airport MRT stations — or at any 7-Eleven, FamilyMart or Hi-Life convenience store. The card costs NT$100 (a non-refundable card fee), then you load whatever credit you need on top. To use: tap the yellow sensor at the entry gate when boarding, then tap out at the exit gate when you arrive — the system automatically deducts the distance-based fare. No paper tickets, no fumbling with a token machine, no worrying about buying the right fare in advance.
Top up at the yellow Add Value machines inside every MRT station — select the amount, insert banknotes or coins and tap your card. Machines accept NT$100, NT$500 and NT$1,000 notes and all coin denominations. Minimum top-up is NT$100. You can also top up at the counter of any 7-Eleven or FamilyMart — just hand over the card and cash and tell the cashier the amount. Load NT$500–1,000 at a time to avoid running dry mid-trip. Your current balance appears on screen every time you tap in. If the balance is insufficient when you tap out, the gate will not open — you will need to go to an Add Value machine before you can leave.
The Taipei Metro map is organised by colour — learn the colours and you will never be confused. The lines you will use most: Red (Tamsui–Xinyi) — north–south spine, passes Taipei Main Station, Taipei 101 and Elephant Mountain; Blue (Bannan) — east–west shopping corridor through Zhongxiao Fuxing; Green (Songshan–Xindian) — passes Zhongshan and Songshan Airport; Orange (Zhonghe–Xinlu) — serves Zhongshan and Nanjing Fuxing; Brown (Wenhu) — elevated line to Neihu and the zoo; Yellow (Circular) — New Taipei loop. The easiest navigation method by far is Google Maps — type your destination and it will tell you exactly which line to take, which direction, where to transfer and how long the walk is at the other end. Free paper maps are available at every station Service Counter.
If you only need to ride the MRT once or twice and do not want to buy an EasyCard, you can purchase a single journey token at the automatic ticket machines in every station. Tokens are small round blue plastic discs — not paper tickets. How to buy: select your destination station on the touchscreen map, choose the number of passengers, insert cash, collect your token(s). To enter: tap the token on the sensor like an EasyCard. To exit: insert the token into the slot in the gate (it is collected and recycled). Machines accept NT$100 and NT$500 notes and all coins, and give change. Fares are the full undiscounted price — no 20% discount — so the EasyCard is better value any time you take more than two or three rides.
The Taipei MRT enforces its rules firmly — ignorance is not an excuse. Strictly prohibited anywhere inside the paid zone (platforms, corridors and carriages): eating or drinking of any kind, including plain water. Maximum fine: NT$7,500. Smoking is also banned. You may eat and drink freely in the unpaid area outside the fare gates. Behavioural norms that locals follow and visitors should too: stand on the right on escalators (left side is for walking); queue along the yellow floor markings at platform edges; let passengers off the train before boarding; keep phone volume low; priority seats (usually orange or red) are for elderly, pregnant women, passengers with disabilities and those with young children — give them up immediately if asked.
The EasyCard is far more versatile than just the MRT. Uses that matter to tourists: City buses throughout Taipei and New Taipei (NT$8 discount on bus fares when transferring from the MRT within one hour); YouBike 2.0 public bicycles — register via the app, link your EasyCard, then tap to unlock any bike (first 30 minutes NT$10); Maokong Gondola — tap straight through with no separate ticket; 7-Eleven and FamilyMart convenience stores across the country; select restaurants and shops displaying the EasyCard logo; and the Airport MRT from Taoyuan Airport. One card genuinely handles your entire Taipei transport experience.
These are the stations you will pass through most often and where the important line changes happen: Taipei Main Station (台北車站) — the system's central hub, connecting Red + Blue + Airport MRT + TRA national rail + HSR, all under one enormous roof; Zhongxiao Fuxing (忠孝復興) — Blue meets Brown; SOGO department store above; Zhongxiao Xinsheng (忠孝新生) — Blue meets Green; Guting (古亭) — Green meets Orange; gateway to Wanhua and Longshan Temple; Minquan West Road (民權西路) — Red meets Orange; Zhongshan neighbourhood; Daan (大安) — Red meets Brown; Da'an district. At every interchange, coloured signs guide you from one platform to the other — transfers are free, and you never need to re-tap your card.
At the end of your trip you can reclaim any remaining credit from your EasyCard at any staffed Service Center inside an MRT station — it does not need to be the station where you bought the card. The remaining balance is refunded in full. Important caveats: the NT$100 card fee is not refunded; if your balance is below NT$20 when you claim the refund, a NT$20 handling fee is also deducted, so it is worth spending the balance down first. The smarter move for many visitors is simply to keep the card — it never expires and the credit stays on it indefinitely. Your next trip to Taiwan, or any Taipei transit connection, is instantly sorted.
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The EasyCard is the right choice for virtually every visitor to Taipei. The ~20% discount on every MRT fare pays back the NT$100 card cost within a day or two of normal sightseeing — four MRT journeys a day is typical, and that adds up fast. Beyond the metro the card works on buses, YouBike, convenience stores and the Maokong Gondola. Buy one the moment you clear arrivals at Taoyuan Airport and load NT$500–1,000 immediately.
Single Journey Tokens are the right choice only if you will ride the MRT just once or twice — for example a day-tripper who arrives by HSR and takes one MRT hop. Buy at the automatic machines, select your destination station, pay and collect the small blue plastic disc. Full undiscounted fares apply — no 20% saving. There is no reason to use tokens over the EasyCard once you have taken three or more MRT journeys in a trip.
The Taipei Fun Pass offers unlimited MRT and city bus rides within a fixed time window. Options start at NT$180 (1-day), NT$310 (2-day) and NT$440 (3-day) for the transport-only version. It breaks even vs. an EasyCard only if you take 6–7+ MRT journeys per day — unusual unless you are deliberately hopping between many distant sightseeing spots. Available at Taipei Main Station, Songshan Airport MRT station and major stations, or pre-order via Klook.
Children under 115 cm tall (or under 6 years old) ride free when accompanied by a fare-paying adult — one free child per adult. Children above 115 cm but under approximately 12 years old pay roughly half the adult fare. This makes the MRT significantly cheaper for families than taxis, which charge a flat rate per vehicle regardless of how many children are onboard. No special children's EasyCard is required — children below the height threshold simply walk through with the adult.
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