THSR Multi-Ride Ticket (回數票): Prices, Rules & the Expiry Trap Nobody Warns You About

Between the name-locked early-bird fare and the all-you-can-ride commuter pass sits the ticket almost nobody writes about: the THSR multi-ride ticket (回數票). It’s the right answer for a surprisingly specific group of travelers — people who ride the same HSR route several times a month, but not often enough to justify an unlimited pass, and not far enough ahead to gamble on early-bird quotas.

This guide breaks down both current plans with real prices from THSR’s official fare table, the rules that catch first-time users off guard (the validity clock, the 3.5-hour limit, the photo registration), and the honest math on when the multi-ride ticket actually beats the alternatives.

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What Is the THSR Multi-Ride Ticket?

The multi-ride ticket is a prepaid bundle of rides between one fixed origin–destination pair on the HSR line. You buy it once, load it onto a registered smart card, and every time you pass through the entry gate on that segment, one ride is deducted.

Two plans are on sale today:

Plan	Rides	Validity	Discount off non-reserved fare
30-day plan	10 rides	30 days	18% off (82折)
60-day plan	8 rides	60 days	8% off (92折)

A note if you’ve read older guides: the original 8-rides/45-days plan was discontinued back in 2019. If you see “10 rides, 45 days” anywhere, that information is out of date.

The key restrictions, upfront:

• Non-reserved (自由座) standard carriages only. You cannot use it for reserved seats or the business car — no exceptions, no upgrades.
• One fixed segment. Buy Taipei–Taichung and it’s worthless for Taipei–Hsinchu.
• Registered and personal. The card carries your photo; letting someone else ride on it means a full-fare-plus-50% penalty and confiscation of the card.
• Three excluded segments: Nangang–Taipei, Nangang–Banqiao, and Taipei–Banqiao cannot be purchased as multi-ride tickets (they’re too short to matter anyway).

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Multi-Ride Ticket Prices on Major Routes

Here’s what both plans actually cost, based on THSR’s official 回數票 fare table, compared with buying single non-reserved tickets (prices in NT$):

Route	Single non-reserved fare	10 rides / 30 days (18% off)	8 rides / 60 days (8% off)	Per ride, 30-day plan
Taipei – Taoyuan	155	1,270	1,140	127
Taipei – Hsinchu	280	2,295	2,060	229.5
Taipei – Taichung	675	5,535	4,965	553.5
Taichung – Zuoying (Kaohsiung)	785	6,270	5,630	627
Taipei – Zuoying (Kaohsiung)	1,445	11,845	10,635	1,184.5

Two things worth noticing:

1. The 30-day plan is the far better discount — 18% off versus just 8%. Its only weakness is that you must burn 10 rides within a month.
2. HSR fares have been frozen for about two decades. THSR has publicly discussed proposing an adjustment (reportedly a filing around mid-2027 at the earliest, with any increase landing no sooner than 2028), but as of now, every price in this table reflects the long-standing base fares. Nothing here includes a “2026 price hike” — there hasn’t been one.

When does the validity clock start?

Not at purchase — at your first ride. The 30 or 60 days run consecutively from the day you first tap in. There’s one built-in protection: when THSR announces multi-ride tickets are suspended during peak holiday periods (Chinese New Year, for example), the validity period is automatically extended by the number of suspended days. The same applies if train service is suspended for more than a day.

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Is the Multi-Ride Ticket Actually Worth It? The Honest Math

The discount is real but modest, so this ticket only wins in a specific band of usage.

The break-even logic

Compare the per-ride cost against what you’d otherwise pay:

• vs. full-fare single tickets: the 30-day plan always wins per ride (82% of full fare), if you can actually use 10 rides before it expires. Use only 6 of 10 on Taipei–Taichung and your effective per-ride cost jumps to NT$922 — worse than the NT$675 full fare. Unused rides are forfeited, full stop.
• vs. early-bird tickets: early-bird reserved seats start at 65% off (Taipei–Taichung from about NT$455, Taipei–Zuoying from about NT$965). If you can commit to a specific train at least 5 days ahead, early-bird is cheaper per ride than any multi-ride plan. The multi-ride ticket wins only when your schedule is too fluid to lock in trains days ahead — because early-bird tickets are name-locked and you lose the discount if you change trains.
• vs. the commuter pass (定期票): the 30-day unlimited commuter pass costs roughly 49% of what 60 rides (two per day) would at full fare — e.g., NT$19,845 for Taipei–Taichung. That works out cheaper than the multi-ride ticket once you pass about 29–30 one-way rides a month (roughly 15 round trips). Below that frequency, the pass costs more per ride than the 82折 multi-ride plan.

So who should buy it?

The multi-ride ticket’s sweet spot is 8 to 20 rides a month on one fixed segment where you need same-day flexibility:

• The weekly Taipei–Taichung business traveler who can’t predict which train they’ll catch
• The person splitting time between two cities a few weekends a month
• The hybrid worker commuting by HSR two or three days a week — too few rides for the commuter pass to pay off, too spontaneous for early-bird quotas
• Long-distance couples/family visitors making regular round trips (each person needs their own registered card)

If you ride fewer than 8 times a month, skip it — buy early-bird fares or single tickets instead. If you ride nearly every workday, get the commuter pass. Our THSR commuter pass vs multi-ride ticket comparison runs the full side-by-side, and the early-bird ticket guide explains the 65/80/90% discount tiers in detail.

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How to Buy: First Purchase vs. Renewal

This is the part that surprises people — you cannot simply buy a multi-ride ticket online the way you book a normal ticket.

First purchase: station ticket window only

1. Go to any HSR station ticket counter and fill out the registered-card application form (記名卡申購單).
2. Bring photo ID and one 2-inch photo taken within the last 6 months — or have your photo taken free on site at most stations.
3. Pay the one-time NT$100 card fee (non-refundable, even if you later refund the ticket) plus the plan price.
4. The card is issued on the spot. Someone else can handle the paperwork for you as long as they bring your documents and photo.

Renewal: the THSR app (or the counter)

Once you hold the card, renewals are painless:

• THSR app → “定期/回數” (periodic/multi-ride) function. The app interface is Traditional Chinese only, and online renewal applies to renewing an existing card, not first purchases.
• After renewing in the app, you must tap your card at a station’s ride-information kiosk (搭乘資訊查詢機) to actually load the product onto the card. Don’t skip this step — the renewal isn’t usable until you do.
• A card can store at most 2 identical products; the renewed one activates only after the current one is used up or expires. If your old rides have already expired, refund them at the window first, then renew.

The official T Express app handles multi-ride ticket renewals — but remember to tap your card at a station kiosk afterward to load the product.

Not sold at ticket vending machines, convenience stores, or through the regular online booking system.

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Riding Rules That Catch People Off Guard

• The ride is deducted at the entry gate. Tap in, and one ride is spent — even if you tap back out and don’t travel.
• 3.5 hours maximum between entry and exit. Overstay and you’ll face a fare adjustment at the gate.
• Boarding at an intermediate station or getting off early forfeits the ride. Your ticket is Taipei–Taichung? Boarding at Taoyuan still burns a full ride; exiting at Hsinchu burns it just the same. No partial refunds.
• Carry your ID. Inspectors can ask to verify the photo on your registered card against you.
• Non-reserved carriages only — cars 4–6 (or whichever are marked 自由座 on platform signs). During peak hours you may stand; that’s the trade-off for the flexibility.
• TGo points: register your TGo membership when buying or renewing and you’ll still earn points on multi-ride travel.

Platform displays tell you which cars are non-reserved (自由座) — on most THSR trains that’s cars 10–12, where your multi-ride ticket is valid.

Refunds

Multi-ride tickets can’t be changed — only refunded and rebought. Refund at any station window within one year of the expiry date, with this formula:

Refund = amount paid − (rides used × full non-reserved fare at purchase date) − NT$20 handling fee

Note the trap: used rides are retroactively charged at full fare, not the discounted rate. If you’ve used most of the bundle, the formula can go negative — in which case there’s simply no refund. App renewals can be refunded in-app as long as you haven’t done the kiosk card-tap yet. The NT$100 card fee is never refunded, and the card itself is yours to keep.

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FAQ

Q: Can I use a multi-ride ticket for reserved seats if I pay the difference? A: No. The product is strictly non-reserved standard car. To reserve a seat you need a separate reserved-seat ticket entirely.

Q: Does the 30-day validity start when I buy it? A: No — it starts on the day of your first ride. An unused card sits dormant without the clock running.

Q: What happens to leftover rides when the plan expires? A: They’re forfeited automatically. No extension (except the official holiday-suspension and service-disruption extensions), no rollover to a renewal, and the expired-rides refund formula above is usually unattractive — buy only what you’ll realistically ride.

Q: Can two people travel on one multi-ride card? A: No. The card is registered with your photo and strictly personal. Third-party use means a full-fare-plus-50% penalty and confiscation.

Q: I lost my card — are my rides gone? A: Report it and the card gets suspended; you can then refund the remaining value or reissue a new card (reissue costs another NT$100 card fee).

Q: Can I buy a multi-ride ticket for Nangang–Taipei? A: No. Nangang–Taipei, Nangang–Banqiao, and Taipei–Banqiao are excluded segments. Use single tickets for those hops.

Q: Is the multi-ride ticket cheaper than early-bird fares? A: Per ride, no — early-bird reserved seats at 65% off are cheaper than the multi-ride plan’s 82% off. But early-bird quotas sell out and lock you to a named train; the multi-ride ticket trades some discount for total schedule freedom.

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The THSR multi-ride ticket is a flexibility product, not the deepest discount. Buy the 10-ride/30-day plan (18% off) if you’ll realistically ride 8–10+ times a month on one segment and value hopping on any train without a reservation. Take the 8-ride/60-day plan (8% off) only when your pace is slower and you still want some discount without early-bird planning. And if your usage is near-daily, stop reading and go get the commuter pass — the math is not close.

Fares and rules above follow THSR’s official 回數票 pages and fare table; THSR occasionally adjusts products, so verify prices at thsrc.com.tw before your first purchase.

Related reading: THSR first & last train schedule guide · Making your e-ticket ride-proof · Commuter pass vs multi-ride ticket