iPASS () is a

contactless smart card A contactless smart card is a contactless credential whose dimensions are credit card size. Its embedded integrated circuits can store (and sometimes process) data and communicate with a terminal via NFC. Commonplace uses include transit ticket ...

operated by the iPASS Corporation. Starting from February 13, 2017, both

EasyCard The EasyCard () is a contactless smartcard system operated by the EasyCard Corporation (previously the Taipei Smart Card Corporation) for electronic money, payment on the Taipei Metro, buses, and other public transport services in Taipei since ...

and iPASS are accepted for virtually all public transport in Taiwan, including rapid transit, buses, and

Taiwan Railway Taiwan Railway (TR) is a state-owned conventional railway in Taiwan. It is operated by the Taiwan Railway Corporation under the supervision of the Ministry of Transportation and Communications (Republic of China), Ministry of Transportation and ...

services. It also serves as an electronic wallet.

History

iPASS was originally operated by the

Kaohsiung Rapid Transit Corporation The Kaohsiung Rapid Transit Corporation (KRTC; Traditional ) is a corporation established by the municipal government of Kaohsiung, Taiwan to build and operate a rapid transit Rapid transit or mass rapid transit (MRT) or heavy rail, commo ...

. It was released in December 2007 and began to operate in March 2008 along with the opening of the Kaohsiung Metro. The operation of iPASS was transferred to iPASS Corporation in early 2014, and subsequently added electronic wallet functionality in addition to its use as a transportation card. In September 2018, iPASS launched iPASS Money in collaboration with LINE Pay, allowing users to transfer money to other LINE users and pay merchants through the LINE app. This made iPASS the first smart card provider in Taiwan to seek approval from the Financial Supervisory Commission to offer digital payment services.

Usage

As of November 2023, iPASS is accepted for payment at: * All

Taipei Metro Taipei Metro (also known as Taipei Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) and branded as Metro Taipei) is a rapid transit system operated by the Taipei Rapid Transit Corporation serving the capital Taipei and New Taipei City in Taiwan. It was the first rapi ...

New Taipei Metro New Taipei Metro () is a transit system serving New Taipei City, New Taipei, Taiwan, operated by . The Danhai light rail, Ankeng light rail, and Circular line (New Taipei Metro), Circular line are currently in operation, while the Sanying line i ...

Taoyuan Metro The Taoyuan Metro (formerly Taoyuan Rail Transit and officially Taoyuan Mass Rapid Transit System) is a rapid transit system serving Taoyuan City, as well as parts of New Taipei City and Taipei, Taipei City, in Taiwan. The most recently proposed ...

, Taichung MRT, and

Kaohsiung Metro Kaohsiung Metro () is a rapid transit and light rail system covering the metropolitan area of Kaohsiung, Taiwan. Its rapid transit network is known as Kaohsiung Mass Rapid Transit System or Kaohsiung Rapid Transit (KRT). Construction of the MRT ...

stations * Taiwan Railway stations * City, coach, and tourist shuttle buses in Taiwan * Ferries in Taipei, Kaohsiung, and

Kinmen Kinmen, alternatively known as Quemoy, is a group of islands governed as a county by the Republic of China (Taiwan), only east from the city of Xiamen in Fujian, located at the southeastern coast of the People's Republic of China, from wh ...

YouBike YouBike (Traditional Chinese characters, Chinese: 微笑單車; pinyin: ''Wéixiào Dānchē''), originally Taipei Bike Sharing System, is a public bicycle sharing system, bicycle sharing service offered by the Taipei City Government, Taipei Ci ...

7-Eleven 7-Eleven, Inc. is an American convenience store chain, headquartered in Irving, Texas. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Seven-Eleven Japan, which in turn is owned by the retail holdings company Seven & I Holdings. The chain was founde ...

FamilyMart is a Japanese convenience store franchise chain, and a subsidiary of Itochu, a Japanese trading company. It is Japan's second largest convenience store chain, behind Seven-Eleven Japan. There are now 24,574 stores worldwide in Malaysia, Taiwa ...

, Hi-Life, and OK Mart stores in Taiwan * Various other merchants
full list
* Scenic areas including Taipei Zoo and

National Palace Museum The National Palace Museum, also known as Taipei Palace Museum, is a national museum headquartered in Taipei, Taiwan. Founded in Beijing in 1925, the museum was re-established in Shilin District, Shilin, Taipei, in 1965, later expanded with a S ...

full list
iPASS is compatible with contactless wallets including

Google Wallet Google Wallet (or simply Wallet) is a digital wallet platform developed by Google. It is available for the Android, Wear OS, and Fitbit OS operating systems, and was announced on May 11, 2022, at the 2022 Google I/O keynote. It began rollin ...

(on

Xiaomi Xiaomi (; ) is a Chinese multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Beijing, China. It is best known for consumer electronics software electric vehicles. It is the second-largest manufacturer of smartphones in the worl ...

POCO In software engineering, a plain old CLR object, or plain old class object (POCO) is a simple object created in the .NET Common Language Runtime (CLR) that is unencumbered by inheritance or attributes. This is often used in opposition to the comp ...

, and

Fitbit Fitbit is a product lining, line of wireless-enabled wearable technology, physical fitness monitors and activity trackers such as smartwatches, pedometers and monitors for heart rate, quality of sleep, and stairs climbed as well as related soft ...

devices) and Garmin Pay.

Availability

The adult standard card is sold at: * Kaohsiung Metro, Taipei Metro, Taichung Metro, and Taoyuan Metro stations * 7-Eleven, FamilyMart, Hi-Life, and OK Mart convenience stores *

Taoyuan International Airport Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport (Traditional Chinese: 臺灣桃園國際機場) is the main international airport serving Taiwan, particularly the northern region and Taipei. Located in Dayuan District, Dayuan, Taoyuan, Taiwan, Taoyuan, ...

and

Kaohsiung International Airport Kaohsiung International Airport ( zh, t=高雄國際機場, labels=no.) is a medium-sized international airport in Siaogang District, Kaohsiung, Taiwan, also known as Siaogang Airport ( zh, t=小港機場, labels=no). With 4.2 million pass ...

In addition to a standard adult stored-value card, iPASS offers co-branded credit and debit cards, customized cards for large enterprises or schools, and cards for seniors, small children, students, and persons with disability certificates.

References

External links

* {{Taiwan rapid transit Contactless smart cards Kaohsiung Metro Fare collection systems in Taiwan