Questions About Riding Taipei's Cable Car

Neither. The cable car itself is operated by Taipei Rapid Transit Corporation, the fare is sold at the gate of each station, and the online ticket is sold on the listing this site links out to. This site sits in between as an independent comparison page. Nobody here holds a seat for you, takes a payment, or sees a single detail of an order. Once you click through, everything between you and the ticket happens on the seller's own checkout, under its own terms.

Nothing. Reading, comparing and checking this page cost no money and need no account. When someone books through an outbound ticket link, the platform selling the ticket passes back part of the fee it already charges, out of its own margin, so the price you see on the listing is the same whether you arrive directly or through this site. The disclosure page spells out the full arrangement in plain language.

On the listing, never here. You pick the date and the option there, pay at that checkout, and receive an open-dated mobile voucher. Its QR code is scanned at the automatic gate at the station, which means no paper ticket and no queue at a booth. One thing to keep straight: the listing, not this page, has the final word on price and availability for the day you choose, so check it before you commit to a date.

NT$180 buys a single ride between any two stations, and NT$300 buys a one-day pass with unlimited rides on the day it is first activated. That flat fare has applied since 3 March 2025, when it replaced the old distance scale of NT$70 for one station, NT$100 for two and NT$120 for three. The change simplified the fare table but raised the price of short hops: a one-station jump from Taipei Zoo to Taipei Zoo South now costs the same as the full run up to the tea houses.

No. EasyCard, iPASS and iCASH are all accepted at the gates and they charge exactly the same NT$180, one card per person per ride, so a stored-value card buys convenience rather than a discount. There is an NT$50 concession fare, but it is limited to Taiwanese residents who show identification at a dedicated gate. Overseas visitors pay the full fare, whichever way they choose to pay it.

No. The glass-floor crystal cabin does not appear in any of the five online options. It is an on-site upgrade of NT$50 per person per trip, added to whichever ticket you already hold, and you join it in a separate queue at the station. Of the line's 147 cabins, 31 are crystal, and they carry five people rather than the eight of a standard cabin, which is part of why the queue moves more slowly.

The split is straightforward. The base option is the one-day pass on its own, from about $9.49, which suits anyone who just wants to ride up and roam. One option adds Taipei Zoo admission together with a one-way ride on the zoo shuttle train, a good fit for families doing both in a day. The remaining three add one or two small Maokong experiences, such as a sealed-tea session, a Zhinan Temple prayer card or a sachet of Tieguanyin. The verified range of published prices runs to about $17.40 at the top end.

The line shuts on most Mondays for routine maintenance, but not on every Monday, and the exact dates change month to month. The operator publishes them as a dated calendar, and that calendar is the answer to use: its English summary rule about first Mondays does not match its own dates. In 2026 the calendar also carries three longer closures: Lunar New Year's Eve on 16 February, cable-splicing work from 20 to 24 April, and the annual overhaul from 8 to 28 June, with service resuming on Monday 29 June. On the days it does run, standard hours are 09:00 to 21:00 on weekdays and 09:00 to 22:00 at weekends and on public holidays.

Honestly, no last-boarding time is published anywhere by the operator, and this site will not invent one. What is published are the hours: 09:00 to 21:00 on weekdays, and 09:00 to 22:00 at weekends and on public holidays. Treat those as doors-closing times, not last-ride times, and arrive well before the end of the day, especially if you want a final ride down from Maokong after dinner in a tea house.

Strong winds, typhoons, lightning and other severe weather can suspend cable car service at short notice. When that happens, passengers in cabins are set down at the nearest safe station, and anyone left at the upper stations is taken back down the mountain by free shuttle buses. The operator posts suspension notices on its official site, so on a stormy day check there before heading to the Taipei Zoo station.

Taipei Zoo Station, the bottom of the line, sits at No. 8, Section 2, Xinguang Road, Wenshan District, about 350 metres southwest of Taipei Zoo MRT station, the Brown Line terminus coded BR01. The walk from the MRT exit takes only a few minutes, mostly signposted. If you are driving, there is an underground car park with 150 car spaces and 200 motorcycle spaces, charged by the hour, which fills early on fine weekends.

About 20 to 30 minutes end to end over the 4.03 km line, with recorded runs between 17 and 37 minutes depending on how the system is running that day. The rule that catches people out is the terminus rule: everyone gets off at the end of the line, so a return trip needs a second ticket unless you hold the one-day pass, which is why the pass suits most visitors planning to come back down after the tea houses.