Taiwan - Subway Similarities

and Differences...
We took the subway a few times in Taipei, once to go shopping for my CNY-required new outfit (you're supposed to wear new clothes on the first day of CNY.)  The Taipei subway was similar to those I've tried in other Asian cities.  Some of the tracks were below ground and others above, usually down the middle of a wide avenue.

The stations had the usual sliding glass curtain that kept you from being run over or jumping on the tracks due to "overwork."

Like Singapore, you pay by the distance.  However, you have to consult a map and determine the price up-front.  Since we were only traveling a few stops, we paid the minimum: 20 Taiwan dollars - about 80 US cents.

Now it gets totally different.  A rubber token pops out of the machine.  You'd expect to insert this in the gate to enter, however, there is some kind of microchip embedded inside so instead you tap it against a sensor to open the gate.  Don't toss that token, hold onto it.

Then, on the way out of the subway, you insert the token to get the gate to open.  Not sure what you do if you bought a 3-stop token and then exited on the 20th stop instead.

Another interesting difference (I'd call it a flaw if I weren't so polite) is the station design.  You can only enter or exit on one side of the station.  So, if you happen to be on the wrong side of the street, you have to climb up the stairs and cross over the tracks.  You'd never see something so poorly planned in Singapore.