Yeah, it’s supposed to be a 4 hour drive to Kaohsiung (per Google Maps), but my taxi driver did it in about 3 hours (at night)! And the taxi price is subsidized by the government for quarantine, so instead of 10,000 NTD, it’s just 2,660 NTD.
I was able to get a much bigger hotel room (with separate living room) in Kaohsiung for a low price (2,500 NTD/nt). The pickings in Taipei were really slim and undesirable as I booked on short notice.