EasyCard vs iPASS in Taipei: what actually differs for a visitor

Most visitors treat this as a decision, and it is closer to a coin toss. On the Taipei Metro, a Taipei city bus, a New Taipei bus, the Maokong Gondola and Taiwan Railway, EasyCard (悠遊卡) and iPASS (一卡通) are charged identically, discount identically, and cost the same NT$100 to buy — and the second assumption worth dropping is that iPASS is a southern card: Taipei Metro sells iPASS at its own station information desks, and EasyCard works on every line of the Kaohsiung MRT including the light rail.

The differences that survive that are narrow and practical, and none of them is about fares. They are about where you can hand the card back on your last day, how much you can spend in a shop with it, and a handful of odd corners in the coverage lists. This guide covers the plain anonymous NT$100 cards a visitor buys, not co-branded bank cards, student cards or welfare cards.

What does each card cost?

Neither card charges a deposit, and the money you pay for the card itself never comes back. EasyCard's own product page prices the standard card (普通卡) at "$100元 (卡片內不含押金與可用金額)" — NT$100, containing neither a deposit nor any usable balance (悠遊卡股份有限公司, 普通卡, checked 7 September 2026). iPASS states the same structure in different words: its own standard-card page states the card is not offered on a rental/deposit basis (未提供租用（押金制）服務) and that its initial usable balance is zero (初始可用金額為 0 元) (一卡通票證公司, 普通卡, checked 16 September 2026).

That is the single most common misconception about these cards, and it is worth being blunt about. There is no NT$100 deposit waiting for you at the airport on your way home. What you get back at the end of a trip is the unspent stored value, minus a fee, and nothing else.

One price discrepancy is worth knowing before you queue. Taipei Metro's own ticket-type page lists the EasyCard standard card at 120元, with 100元 marked "配合專案售完為止" (a promotional price while stocks last), and lists the iPASS standard card at 100元 (臺北大眾捷運股份有限公司, 車票種類－儲值卡, page updated 7 September 2026, checked 7 September 2026). The same page notes that the design and price at the counter follow whatever the card company supplies. Budget NT$100 and be unsurprised by NT$120.

The spending cap is the difference most likely to bite in a convenience store. EasyCard's usage instructions set small-purchase deduction at a maximum of NT$1,500 per transaction and NT$3,000 accumulated per day (悠遊卡使用說明, 111年10月修訂, checked 7 September 2026); iPASS sets NT$1,000 per transaction against the same NT$3,000 daily ceiling. iPASS also states plainly that the caps do not apply to government fees, utility payments, tuition, medical fees, public transport including public bicycles, or parking — so a NT$1,300 rail journey is not blocked by the NT$1,000 shop limit.

What is the transfer discount?

The metro-to-bus transfer discount is NT$8 per trip on a standard card, in both directions, within a one-hour window. Taipei Metro's own FAQ gives the figures by card type: standard cards and the companion welfare card used alone get NT$8 each time, student cards NT$6, and welfare cards NT$4 (臺北大眾捷運股份有限公司 常見問答, 捷運與公車雙向轉乘優惠, page updated 1 October 2025, checked 7 September 2026). Taipei City's transport office states the same NT$8 and NT$6 figures for Taipei joint-operated buses and New Taipei buses within a 60-minute limit, and names the three approved cards as EasyCard, iPASS and icash (臺北市公共運輸處 常見問答, page updated 29 June 2026, checked 7 September 2026).

Against a Taipei bus fare of NT$15 per section for a full-fare adult (臺北市公共運輸處 常見問答, 公車投現票價, page updated 30 March 2026, checked 7 September 2026), an NT$8 discount takes a connecting bus ride to NT$7. That is the discount doing real work, and it is identical on both cards.

The rule that catches people out is what counts as "direct". Taipei City's transport office spells it out: the transfer must go metro to bus or bus to metro with nothing in between, and taking any other mode in the gap — YouBike, Taiwan Railway, the Maokong Gondola, an intercity coach, High Speed Rail or a taxi — breaks the chain and forfeits the discount (臺北市公共運輸處 常見問答, 捷運公車雙向轉乘時間限制, page updated 20 May 2026, checked 7 September 2026). A gondola ride up to Maokong and a bus down the hill is two separate full fares.

Two adjacent discounts exist and are easy to miss. Bus-to-bus transfers within the same one-hour window are discounted at half price under Taipei's transfer-subsidy rules (臺北市公共運輸處 常見問答, 公車間轉乘優惠, page updated 26 November 2025, checked 7 September 2026). And the transport office describes a NT$5 discount for transferring to a New Taipei YouBike within 60 minutes of a metro or bus tap — a benefit its FAQ attributes specifically to EasyCard, with hire limited to New Taipei stations and return anywhere in Taipei or New Taipei. That is the one fare benefit we found named for one card and not the other.

Is there a metro fare discount?

There is no stored-value discount on the Taipei Metro any more, and this is the fact most older advice gets wrong. Taipei Metro's ticket page states that standard cards, student cards and concession cards are charged the full single-journey fare (以單程票價全額扣款); only welfare cards, Taipei's primary-school digital student cards, Taipei's children's concession card and the New Taipei children's card ride at 40% of the single-journey fare (臺北大眾捷運股份有限公司, 儲值卡, page updated 7 September 2026, checked 7 September 2026). If you have read that a card gets you 20% off a metro ride, that guidance is out of date.

The discount now arrives a month later, as a rebate, and it applies to both cards equally. Under Taipei Metro's frequent-rider scheme (常客優惠方案), the previous month's completed trips set a cash-back rate applied to the previous month's fares: 11–20 trips returns 5%, 21–40 trips returns 10%, and 41 or more returns 15%. The rebate is loaded automatically onto the same card the first time it passes a metro gate in the new month, and it stays claimable for one year (臺北大眾捷運股份有限公司, 常客優惠方案, page updated 19 January 2026, checked 7 September 2026).

For a one-week visitor that scheme is close to worthless, because the trips only pay out in the following calendar month, on the same card, at a metro gate you will not be standing at. Notably, the scheme's own rules say fares are accumulated at full price even on a discounted transfer: metro's example is a NT$20 journey deducted at NT$12 after the NT$8 bus transfer, still accruing NT$20 toward the rebate.

Where does each card work?

Coverage is close to identical across the systems a visitor uses, with the meaningful gaps sitting outside Taipei rather than inside it. The table below lists each system, whether each card is accepted, and the condition attached.

The one asymmetry we can document with certainty is not about tapping but about buying. EasyCard's own page lists the standard card as available at all four convenience store chains — 7-ELEVEN, FamilyMart, Hi-Life and OK Mart — as well as at Taipei, Taoyuan and Kaohsiung MRT information desks and EasyCard customer service centres. Taipei Metro's page, by contrast, lists iPASS standard cards as sold at Taipei Metro station information desks and iPASS's appointed resellers, without naming the convenience-store chains. In practice, if you are standing in a 7-ELEVEN at midnight wanting a card, EasyCard is the one the operator says is there.

Taiwan Railway takes both cards under one national regulation, and the terms are stricter than most guides suggest. Taiwan Railway Corporation's multi-card operating rules accept EasyCard, iPASS and icash, charge a standard card the full fare with no card discount, and bar the cards outright from 觀光列車 (tourist trains), 團體列車 (charter trains), Taroko and Puyuma expresses, the Tze-Chiang 3000 series, business cars and family cars; where you do ride a reserved-seat train on a card, no seat is assigned to you (國營臺灣鐵路股份有限公司, 多卡通電子票證乘車營運規定, effective 23 June 2025, checked 7 September 2026). EasyCard's own coverage page still describes an older arrangement offering 10% off for journeys within 70 km; where the two disagree, the railway's regulation is the operating rule.

What does not work?

High Speed Rail is the biggest thing these cards do not buy, and the exclusion is more complete than "no reserved seats". Taiwan High Speed Rail's own pages describe tapping in only for holders of a co-branded EasyCard or iPASS credit card with auto-top-up activated, and only into the non-reserved (自由座) cars (台灣高鐵, 悠遊聯名卡乘車 and 一卡通聯名卡乘車, both checked 7 September 2026). EasyCard states the restriction from the other side: the stored balance may not be used to buy any other ticket type or to pay a fare adjustment, and a passenger wanting a reserved seat must buy a ticket separately rather than tapping in (悠遊卡股份有限公司, 使用範圍－台灣高鐵, checked 7 September 2026). The NT$100 card from a convenience store will not open a High Speed Rail gate at all. iPASS's coverage page prices the non-reserved trip at 97% of the reserved full fare and marks it 限聯名信用卡 — co-branded credit cards only (一卡通票證公司, 使用範圍, checked 7 September 2026).

YouBike is the second trap, and it fails for a reason that has nothing to do with which card you chose. YouBike's registration page requires a Taiwanese mobile number to receive an SMS verification code, because the phone number is the account, plus a national ID, resident certificate or passport number for the compulsory rider insurance (微笑單車股份有限公司, 註冊方式, checked 7 September 2026). Both EasyCard and iPASS can be bound to that account, but a visitor without a Taiwanese SIM cannot create one, so the card in your pocket will not release a bike no matter how many times you tap the dock.

Three smaller absences are worth naming. Neither card gives a fare discount on the Taipei Metro any more, as above. Neither card's balance can be topped up with a foreign credit card at ordinary top-up points — both companies describe cash top-up at convenience stores, metro stations and designated machines, and reserve auto-top-up for bank-issued co-branded cards. And we found no operator page confirming taxi acceptance for either card, so we make no claim about it; treat taxis as cash or a Taiwanese payment app until you see a sticker on the window.

How do you get money back?

The refund fee is NT$20 on both cards, and both waive it under exactly the same condition. EasyCard's usage instructions set a contract-termination processing fee of NT$20, waived if the card has been used five times or more and held for three months or more; the same document works an example in which a NT$100 balance returns NT$52 after the NT$20 fee and NT$28 of registered postage (悠遊卡使用說明, 111年10月修訂, checked 7 September 2026). iPASS's own FAQ page states the identical NT$20 fee and the identical five-uses-and-three-months waiver, with its own worked example returning NT$80 on a NT$100 balance (一卡通票證公司, 常見問題：一卡通退卡注意事項, checked 16 September 2026). A one-week visitor will normally clear five taps easily and fail the three-month test, so budget for losing NT$20.

Where you hand the card over is the real difference, and for a Taipei trip it favours EasyCard heavily.

Sources: 悠遊卡股份有限公司, 退卡/退費處理方式 and 一卡通票證公司, 儲值卡異常暨退費處理, both checked 7 September 2026, with the fee and postage terms from each company's usage instructions.

Read the top row again, because it decides the choice for a Taipei-only trip. EasyCard is refundable at any Taipei Metro station information desk, which you will walk past on the way to the airport. iPASS lists Kaohsiung MRT station desks as its in-person option, which is 350 km away. If you are flying home from Taoyuan with NT$180 left on the card, EasyCard hands it back over a counter and iPASS asks you to post the card south.

The airport is the wrong place to plan this. Neither company lists an airport counter among its refund points on the pages above, and EasyCard's list of in-person locations covers metro stations and bus company service centres rather than airport arrival halls. Refund at a metro station on your last afternoon in the city, or accept that a small balance is the price of not queueing.

So which should you buy?

Buy whichever card the person in front of you is selling, unless one of three narrow conditions applies. For a trip that is Taipei only and ends with an unspent balance you want back, take EasyCard, because Taipei Metro information desks refund it and iPASS's in-person refunds are in Kaohsiung. For a trip that runs Taipei to Kaohsiung and back, either works everywhere, and iPASS's Kaohsiung MRT day-pass add-on at station desks is a small point in its favour. For a stay long enough to clear five uses and three months, the NT$20 fee disappears on both and the question stops mattering entirely.

Everything else is noise. Same NT$100, same NT$10,000 ceiling, same NT$8 transfer discount, same NT$20 refund fee, same full-fare metro deduction, same frequent-rider rebate scheme, same exclusion from High Speed Rail reserved seats. The choice that visitors agonise over is decided by a refund counter's postcode.

One practical sequence for arrival day. Buy the card at a convenience store or a metro information desk, load NT$500 in cash, tap in at the gate and check the balance the gate displays, and keep the card out of a wallet holding any other contactless card. On your last day, ride the metro to your final station, then hand the card to the information desk before you head for the airport bus — that is the only moment in the trip when the difference between these two cards is worth anything at all.

This guide does not cover co-branded bank cards, mobile EasyCard on Samsung Wallet or telecom SIMs, the TPASS commuter pass, or the icash card that Taipei also accepts. It also does not cover fares outside Taipei, New Taipei, Taoyuan Airport MRT and the Kaohsiung systems named above.