Setting up Easycard in Taiwan

The Easycard is a central part of Taiwanese life. It’s basically a card you can top up with cash and use not only for the MRT (metro) but also buses, Ubikes, some taxis and even many convenience stores (which in Taiwan are also used for way more than the convenience stores you are probably used to), so they are truly items of great power.

Getting a Ubike in Taiwan is a wonderful thing – the public transport in Taiwan is already pretty awesome, but this is what makes getting around in Taipei extremely fun and easy, without having to rely on the metro or bus system or spending very much money at all.

All over the city, there are fleets of yellow bicycles. By MTR stations, street corners and pretty much everywhere inbetween. You can find them via an app, use the same card needed for all other transport in the city, and get around very easily.

However, you have to register and get set up. It’s super easy if you know how, though, and in this article, we are going to break down how to do that and have you biking around and saving time before you can say ‘Taiwan has a highly efficient metropolitan transport system!’

Step 1 – Enter the Easycard

You can top it up at points in MRT stations and in most convenience stores – just lay the card on a pad, insert money and get on the train! You don’t need to register anything to use the MRT and bus, so just go to the customer service point in any MRT station or your closest convenience store like 7/11 or familymart and ask for an Easycard. It will cost you 100NTD, not including balance.

Step 2 – Powering up your Easycard

To use the Easycard for Ubike you need to register it to a Taiwanese phone number. You can see our guide to getting the best Taiwanese phone number (here/hyperlink to new article) but one of the best recommendations is simply myfone.

Myfone is on most street corners and offers several packages including a pay as you go option with limited phone credit and about 3G of data from 300NTD. You can also get much more data for very reasonable topups. If you need help getting a phone number we at poprooms are also happy to help (click here to customer package link)

Once you have the phone number, simply register your Easycard at a Ubike kiosk (the little mnachines by most Ubike stations or via this handy website https://taipei.youbike.com.tw/en/f61.php \