I have a taibei MRT card, I added money to it at here at a taizhong convenience store. Every day, each time I get on the bus, I swipe my card and each time I get off the bus I swipe my card.
Every time I swipe it shows 222NT, I think this is how much credit is on my card. I assume because of this that I am not being charged for the bus trips and the bus drivers either can’t tell me what I am doing wrong due to my poor chinese?
Could someone kindly explain what I am doing wrong?
I don’t think you do anything wrong. Many busses in Taichung are free. You still have to swipe your card and if you do it wrong you’ll get the signal indicating that it’s not correct and you have to swipe again.
You can’t use Taipei MRT’s EasyCard in Taichung. They use “Taiwan Tong,” a different system altogether.
Thanks for the feedback catfish13, How long since you’ve been to Taizhong?
At first I thought that was the problem, when we went to the 7/11 to get the right type of card, the staff at the 7/11 explicitly said we dont need a different card, we can just use the EasyCard. The fact that all of the buses have the logo from the EasyCard stamped on their card machines seems to confirm this.
I don’t live in Taichung. However, during my last visit there in May I did clearly remember asking the bus driver if they accepted Easy Card, and was told no. Bus fare down there is based on distances traveled, and you have to swipe both when you are getting on and off the bus so they can calculate the proper fare, even if you are paying cash. It seemed like a really backwards system IMO.
I think that the clerks at 7-11 misunderstood you. Yes, you can recharge your Easy Card at 7-11’s outside Taipei and even use it to buy stuff, but most cities and counties accept only cash or Taiwan Tong cards for their public transportation system. If you look at it closely, most buses in Taipei have also switched to new swipe sensor terminals with logos of a bunch of other electronic payment systems.
I don’t get what your hate for the Easycard is about…maybe the Taizhong busses switched too? Wikipedia reveals this:
Travel any bus route 1-300 for under 8km and ride for free if you use the Easycard, 7 Easycard, Kaohsiung card, or whatever Yuantong ETC is from 6/1/2011 until 12/31/2011.
I don’t get what your hate for the Easycard is about…maybe the Taizhong busses switched too?
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That does explain it, you havent been here for a while, I think the system changed on July 1.
I do believe that Taizhong has also made the switch, the swipe machines in the bus look exactly as you describe (: My chinese is very limited but from what I can see online, there seems to be a “competition” of sorts with regards to which card people should use, ie ubus.com.tw/bus/ecard0.asp
[quote=“mike029”]
Wikipedia reveals this:
Travel any bus route 1-300 for under 8km and ride for free if you use the Easycard, 7 Easycard, Kaohsiung card, or whatever Yuantong ETC is from 6/1/2011 until 12/31/2011.[/quote]
I see the word “Taizhong” in the cihnese version, thats for pulling that out! It definitely explains what is going on. I don’t think I ever travel further than 8km, so that would explain it. It means if you want to travel further than 8km, you could just change buss to keep the fare free (:
Based on this new information I found this helpful article:
tscc.com.tw/news/event-page.aspx?id=796
I don’t get what your hate for the Easycard is about…maybe the Taizhong busses switched too? Wikipedia reveals this:
Travel any bus route 1-300 for under 8km and ride for free if you use the Easycard, 7 Easycard, Kaohsiung card, or whatever Yuantong ETC is from 6/1/2011 until 12/31/2011.[/quote]
I am a bit confused…I don’t hate EasyCards at all. I use them on a daily basis for public transportation and stuff at the 7-11. It completely eliminates the need to carry change.
So you’re not getting charged to ride the bus, yet you think you’re doing something wrong? It sounds perfect, to me.
I don’t get what your hate for the Easycard is about…maybe the Taizhong busses switched too? Wikipedia reveals this:
Travel any bus route 1-300 for under 8km and ride for free if you use the Easycard, 7 Easycard, Kaohsiung card, or whatever Yuantong ETC is from 6/1/2011 until 12/31/2011.[/quote]
I am a bit confused…I don’t hate EasyCards at all. I use them on a daily basis for public transportation and stuff at the 7-11. It completely eliminates the need to carry change.[/quote]
Sorry, that’s slang from the Northeast US…I guess it doesn’t translate over well into text. “I don’t get what your hate for ____ is about” = “I don’t understand why you think the Easycard didn’t spread to other areas.”
Sometimes thinking one is not being charged, when one actually is being charged, will eventually come back to bite one in the booty butt.