The Easy Way to Buy & Refund TRA Train Tickets

Taiwan is easily explored by trains, and the process of securing tickets isn’t actually as difficult as it may initially seem. The most straightforward way to get tickets is to go to the train station in advance and buy them at the counter, but this can be inconvenient unless you are already planning a trip to the station.

Luckily for us, buying the tickets online is incredibly easy, and you can either choose to pick them up at the station half an hour before your train departs, or at any 711 with an iBon machine. (You can also buy the tickets directly on the iBon machine, but we’ve had slightly less success with this. Don’t judge.) Without further ado, here’s how to do it yourself.

First, check out the online timetable so you have an idea of which train you’d like to take. Just input where you’ll be travelling from/to, when, what time, and your preference of train type (if any). When you’re inputting the time, be careful not to choose a relatively narrow window of time (departing and arriving within an 8 hour period) or it can throw the whole search off.

Take a mental note of the train number and departure time, and then click the “booking” button, which will take you to this page. The information should automatically appear in the new search bar, but you may want to double check that it is correct, or there at all. Next, you will need to input your passport or ARC number and fill out a CAPTCHA.

When you’re done, you will see a confirmation window.

Screenshot this or take a note of the booking code,  and pop down to your local 711 to use the iBon machine.

First, select the “ticket” option. Luckily, it’s easy to identify due to the part at the bottom that that says TRA and THSR.

Then, select the “travel tickets” option.

Next, select the option for TRA.

Then, select “ticket collect.” This part is in both Chinese and English!

Next, accept the terms and conditions.

Next, input your booking confirmation number. This will be inside the screenshot of your details that you saved earlier.

Then, input your passport or ARC number.

Next, choose if it is a round trip. The left button is for no, the right for yes.

Next, your order will show up. Click to proceed to the next step.

Next, select your number/type of passengers. You can’t add any more than you reserved (i.e. if you reserved two tickets, you can’t choose to purchase three at this stage), but you can choose between adult, child, elderly, couples, or student fares. Click the first option for adult tickets.

Last, confirm your selections. The machine will print out a receipt at the bottom that you can take to the cashier.

And that’s it! Easy, right? Take the receipt to the cashier, pay, and you will get your tickets instantly. As we said, this is by far our favourite way because it can be done independently and at your own convenience.

 

Refunds

Refunding your tickets is just as easy. You can do it at the station, or at the IBON machine once again. Note that there are some terms and conditions regarding ticket refunds, and you will probably lose a little bit of money in the process.

First, go back to the TRA ticket section of IBON.

This time, select ticket refund.

Accept the terms and conditions.

Next, enter the 13-digit ticket number found on the bottom right corner of your ticket.

Confirm the ticket details.

Next, a screen showing how much you will be refunded will show up. Hit “accept” and grab the receipt that the IBON machine prints out.

Once you have the receipt, take it to the cashier and get your money refunded.

Now that you’ve mastered purchasing and refunding the tickets, there’s really no excuse not to take that cross-country train trip you’ve been dreaming of!