Luggage Deposit at Train Stations
Luggage deposit (行旅寄存) service are available in most train stations. Most of them offer daily rate on a per piece basis. It is especially useful if you want to area that are harder to access. For example, I plan to stay in Jiufen (九份) for 1 night and it is famous for narrow and hilly path, some small path are not accessible by car. I decided to deposit 3 pieces of luggage at Ruifang (瑞芳) station. I deposited my luggage on 16-Dec and paid TWD170. One piece of big luggage cost TWD70 and two small pieces cost TWD50 each. On 17-Dec, we collected our luggage at 1pm and paid another TWD170.
Pay attention to a few things:
- Luggage deposit counter close quite early. Most of them closes at 8pm.
- If you deposit luggage overnight, if is counted as 2 days.
- Measure your luggage dimension in advance. It could be useful if you want to "challenge" the operator's classification. According to the rule, a luggage is classified into big, medium or small depending on the sum of 3 dimensions (see here). However, in practise the operator classify them into big (cost TWD70), medium (TWD50) or small (TWD30) by subjective judgement. No measurement was taken for classification. For example, my luggage was classified as small when I deposit on arrival day. A few days later, I deposited the same luggage at the same counter but it was classified as big by another operator. I mentioned to the operator that it was classified as small a few days earlier and she gracefully accepted it as small.
Luggage Locker at Train Stations
Luggage lockers are available at most bigger train stations. It comes with various sizes and range from TWD50 to TWD70 for every 3 hours. Some can fit very large rolling suitcase and others can fit an handbag or backpack. This is ideal for relieving your burden when you make a short visit to nearby attractions.
For example, on my departure day, I have several hours to kill and I have decided to keep my 3 pieces of luggage and a backpack into 2 big lockers at Taipei HSR train station. There were about 3 clusters of lockers near the HSR train ticket counter. Each locker cluster offer about 20 compartment with different sizes. After putting in my luggage in compartment marked with Door 10, I slot in TWD70 worth of coins and indicated the Door No and press confirm. The locker is locked and the system printed a receipt. It is very important to keep the receipt since the CODE to unlock the door is printed there.
Pay attention to a few things:
- Get ready your coins and small notes (TWD100). Some lockers have automated coin changer machine next to them.
- Since the CODE (password) is printed in big font, keep it from any nearby onlooker. Anyone who know the password can retrieve the luggage.
- In the case that you lost your CODE, you need to pay additional TWD200 fee.
- When we collect our luggage, we notice that there are people around us waiting to use our locker. Apparently there may not be enough locker compartment for all customers. So I advise you to deposit luggage in the early part of the day to avoid all lockers being used up. It is unlikely for people to use the locker overnight since it is quite costly (TWD70 for 3 hours) to do so.
- The locker rental rates could be different at other train stations.
References
A few good write up on luggage deposit:
