Yep agree. Station location is a real issue. Some journeys are OK - eg an off peak Hsinchu to Banciao, but other station locations are terrible.
Queues can be terrible. Even opting for business class (to avoid the economy queue) doesn't necessarily get you out of queueing. Close to one national holiday I queued longer for a Taipei-Taichung ticket than the journey time. And worse than that, when I got the ticket I had to wait an hour for the next train with a seat.
The shuttle buses are a joke - you never know how long you are going to wait, or whether you are going to be dropped at the bottom of some steps. Again - the shuttle bus journey can take longer than your intended train journey.
Not stopping at the airport is the biggest crime. The line actually passes just a mile or so from the perimeter - Taoyuan station is neither in the town nor at the airport.
What a pity - a wasted opportunity.
The only positive experiences so far are:
1) bumping into Ma on the platform just before he became president and having a chat. Security was pretty relaxed and friendly and he seemed quite nice.
2) On board just after the ticket check, an American bloke and daughter took up seat behind me (in business class). Daughter was a pain, kicking the seat back etc. The hostess quickly appeared and removed them back to economy. Suppose he thought he would just get away with it. He muttered something about not knowing it was business class and it was a bit crowded back there. Yeah right. TW girl was having none of that!
The Japs do it better (albeit at a price).
Last edited by jimbo99; Jan 1, 2009 at 1:37 pm