Do you want to save on taxi fares in Taiwan? Do you want to visit places like having your own private car but don't want to spend so much? Do you find it difficult to talk to drivers in Chinese? If you answer is yes, then you are reading the right page. Introducing tripool taxi. Your private point-to-point transportation.
Brought to by roundTaiwanround, a legit and officially recognized travel agency in Taiwan. They have created a legal and licensed product called tripool taxi that lets you visit the thousands of tourist attractions on the island at a fraction of a cost of a taxi fare. Check the web app and see for yourself how it works (https://www.tripool.app/?utm_source=luomuji).
Believe me (and the luomujie blog, of course. Haha!), you will really save money with this service. Having been to many places on the island since the first day I arrived in this beautiful country, I have a lot of experiences in riding Taiwan's public transportation system from trains to buses and taxis. I'm a budget traveler and sometimes I also board taxis to reach my destination faster. You really can't travel in Taiwan without them. But sometimes cab drivers charge too much and this post is to help you develop a wise technique on how to reduce your taxi fares by as much as 40%.
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| Yehliu Geopark |
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| at Jiufen Old Street. Red lanterns light up this narrow alley. |
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| A group of children getting ready to release their sky lantern at Shifen Old Street |
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| Ahmei teahouse in Jiufen Old Street. |
| Pick-up point | Destination | Distance (km) | Travel time | General taxi (deal offer) | Tripool taxi estimated fare | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| # of passengers | ||||||||
| 2 | 2 | 4 | 5 | |||||
| Yehliu Geopark | Shifen Old Street | 31.3 | 49 min. | NTD 1,200 | NTD 690 | NTD 761 | NTD 1,361 | |
| Jiufen Old Street | 34.1 | 51 min | NTD 1,400 | NTD 715 | NTD 787 | NTD 1,385 | ||
Looking at Table 1, it is very clear that you can save lots of money by choosing tripool. Why spend NTD 1,200 if you can only pay for NTD 690 for a ride from Yehliu to Shifen with two passengers on board. Traveling alone? No problem. The price is still the same for two passengers. tripool web app: https://www.tripool.app/?utm_source=luomuji
The price increased in tripool with more passengers? Remember the saying “the more, the merrier”. As more people hop on the tripool taxi, more friends are willing to share the cost of the fare which translates to savings. You can see from Table 1 that the tripool taxi fare doubled when the passenger number was increased to five. This happens because a bigger car will be used to accommodate the larger number of passengers in a vehicle. Do you want to squeeze yourself in a five-seater car if there are six people that are going to board? Haha!
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| The picturesque Gaomei Wetlands during sunset |
Enough of the tourist traps in the suburbs of Taipei. Let's go to Central Taiwan. To Taichung, the gateway of Sun Moon Lake and the home of the famous bubble milk tea. I bet you have heard of its popular attractions like Gaomei Wetlands. I dare you to visit there on weekends especially during holidays and let yourself get drowned by the sea of people after the sun has finally set. Bwahaha!
Everyone is waiting for the bus going back to Qingshui Station until an unknown man approaches you in the middle of darkness and ask you to hop in his taxi. For a woman, it might be scary to go with a stranger. With tripool taxi, you are assured of your safety because after you booked a car, you will receive an e-mail about the driver's name, car plate number, and contact number. So you know who is going to be your personal driver for the drive back to downtown Taichung.
Now let's have an example in Taichung ala Yehliu-Jiufen (See Table 2). How do people go to Xinshe Castle and Zhongshe Sight Seeing Flower Market from Taichung Station? For Xinshe Castle, tourists on a tight budget usually board Bus 91 from TRA Fengyuan Station up to Zhongxingling terminal stop. Then, a cab will take them to the Summit Resort area for NTD 200. Sounds good, but cash-rich tourist like those from Singapore would probably ride a taxi from Taichung Station for NTD 800 (their minimum offer based on my experience) and they will arrive in the place in less than 40 minutes. In a tripool taxi, visitors will only have to pay NTD 578 (for 2 passengers) to get to Xinshe Castle from the train station with no hidden charges. Just schedule your ride based on your arrival time in Taichung Station.
| Pick-up point | Destination | Distance | Travel time | General taxi fare (deal offer) | Tripool taxi estimated fare |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Taichung Station | Xinshe Castle | 19.3 km | 38 min. | NTD 800 | NTD 578 |
| Chungshe Tourism Flower Market | 34.5 km | 41 min. | NTD 700 | NTD 662 |
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| pink tulips in Zhongshe Sightseeing Flower Market |
Zhongshe Sightseeing Flower Market. This place is popular every spring because of its tulips festival. How to get here had long been demystified by the luomujie blog by just walking from TRA Tai'an Station. You entered the garden and you had lots of fun. Then it's time to go back to Tai'an Station. Sounds easy to do but going back to the train station by taking a stroll for two kilometers will take a lot of time for many. So the best way is to board one of the cabs waiting at the entrance of the flower garden and ask the driver to take you to TRA Tai'an Station. Not to mention that you will still have wait for the local train going back to downtown. But beware! Taxi drivers in Taichung have a dirty habit of deciding for themselves which place they will drop their passengers. Sometimes, instead of taking you to Tai'an Station, the driver will take you Taichung Station which means a higher taxi cost for about NTD 700. Are you ready to pay that sum of money? Imagine going to Taiwan as a tourist and then end up feeling robbed. Been there, done that.
The price difference of tripool and a general taxi for the Taichung Station to Zhongshe Sightseeing Flower Market is almost the same (See Table 2). But in tripool, you don't need to talk to the driver in Chinese because the destination and pick-up point had already been set during booking. Once your reservation is confirmed, you are guaranteed a hassle-free trip unlike talking to taxi drivers and being denied to board the car because of disagreements of not using the taxi meter.
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| at Hehuanshan |
Now let's go higher to Nantou province. I have two point-to-point examples in Table 3 where tripool shows its convenience for travelers in Taiwan. The first one is going to Hehuanshan from Taichung Station. Going by taxi is a common technique for people with thick pockets. But it doesn't always give the results that you want. Two of my past Travel Buddies who have tried to go on an adventure in Hehuanshan have experienced horror instead of bringing home beautiful memories. They boarded a cab from Taichung Station for a roundtrip price of NTD 8,000. The plan is, the driver will take them to the mountains and then will come back for the return trip. However, the “kind” taxi driver didn't return and another driver (the "kind" driver called his friend to do the job for him) fetched them from Hehuanshan. Upon reaching Taichung they were charged NTD 4,000 for the return trip. So that's NTD 12,000 for a roundtrip Taichung – Hehuanshan taxi ride. Tsk..tsk..tsk...
Table 3: Taichung to Nantou cab fares in a general taxi vs tripool taxi. tripool web app: https://www.tripool.app/?utm_source=luomuji
Pick-up piont
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Destination
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Distance
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Travel time
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General taxi fare (deal offer)
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Estimated fare in tripool taxi
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Taichung Station
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Hehuanshan
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113.1 km
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2 hrs and 29 mins.
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NTD 4,000*
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NTD 1,680*
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Cingjing Farm
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Puli Station
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34 km
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58 mins.
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NTD 900**
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NTD 761**
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*two passengers, **three passengers
So what happened to my friends? They did not give the extra NTD 4,000, so the taxi driver called a policeman. But the officer could not speak English, so the foreign affairs ministry of Taiwan was asked for help. Sigh! These things should not be happening to visitors in this country.
And this is one of the reasons why tripool taxi was invented. To move people to tourist spots in Taiwan without hidden charges. For a Taichung Station to Hehuanshan point-to-point tour, you only need to pay NTD 1,680 (one-way trip) instead of the dubious NTD 4,000 offer of taxi drivers in Taichung. Let's say you want to explore the mountains and wanted to come back to the city after wandering in the rolling hills for three hours. So you book a return trip using tripool again to set your desired pick-up time. Your tripool car will probably stay in Hehuanshan in your agreed meeting place and will wait for you as you enjoy the beauty of Hehuanshan. It is so convenient for backpackers without the worry of being overcharged. Yehey!
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| A flock of sheep in Cingjing farm. |
Going back to Taichung from Cingjing Farm by bus? Not so fast. It is not as easy as what you think. Although there are public buses that service the winding road in Cingjing Farm down to the town of Puli, the bus drivers have a weird way of just bypassing the bus stops even with people waiting at them. I have experienced this last winter. At that time, a thick fog shrouded Cingjing Farm and most buses don't want to stop. It was a good thing that two Taiwanese women were standing beside me and we just decided to board a taxi to the town of Puli. We haggled for the price per person and it was agreed to be NTD 300 each. But in tripool, the Cingjing Farm to Puli Station itinerary costs only NTD 761 for three passengers which makes the budget for each person down to NTD 254 only. The difference was only less than fifty Taiwan dollars but we waisted one hour of our life trying to catch a bus that doesn't want to make a stop. With tripool taxi, you won't experience these things. You just schedule your trip one day before, the car arrives at the meeting point and takes you to your destination.
But have I tried tripool taxi before? Yes, of course! When I went to the Sun&Green sunflower farm together with my girlfriend, I booked a car in tripool with the web app (https://www.tripool.app/?utm_source=luomuji).
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| The sunflowers in Sun&Green farm. |
How to book a car via the tripool web app using your smartphone? Just follow these steps:
Step 1a: Visit tripool app. Fill in pick-up point, destination and # of passengers.
Step 1b: Click "Search" and get the price of the service. Click the "Reserve ..." button.
Step 2: You will be asked to set your desired pick-up date and estimated time of departure
Step 2a: Choose the date first
Step 2b: Then select the estimated pick-up time
Step 3: Fill-in the passenger details and then pay online using your ATM credit/debit card. Wait for the confirmation e-mail.
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| taxi time, shuttle price |
As you enjoy your trip with this private point-to-point transportation, don't forget to remember the tagline of this service. Tripool taxi: taxi time, shuttle price. But I will give my own version, the luomujie way. Tripool taxi: Taiwan budget travel technique.
How to book Available English speaking driver Taichung Fengchia Market-Taipei 101- Taoyuan airport?
ReplyDeleteIf you can't choose a driver from the app or even request, you can send a message to the customer service.
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