The TR Pass (Chinese: 台灣鐵路周遊券; pinyin: Táiwān Tiělù Zhōuyóu Quàn)[1] is a rail pass offered by Taiwan Railway Administration (TRA), granting holders of the pass unlimited rides on trains operated by TRA within the day count.
The pass can be used by both local and foreign travelers, and different durations of validity are offered as choice.
Although currently TRA also refers to the Student Pass as "TR Pass學生版" (lit.
"TR Pass - Student Version") in Chinese, in the past TRA often refers to it as "學生優惠周遊券" (lit.
[2] Act according to the policy of National Youth Commission, Executive Yuan (行政院青年輔導委員會), TRA aimed at encouraging foreign students to travel in Taiwan by issuing the TR Pass in December 2006; this explains why at that time only foreign students were eligible to buy and use the pass.
[3] In order to encourage tourism by railway and provide an opportunity of travel as a leisure activity to local students in vacation, TRA extended the scheme to local students in 2009.
The pass was issued so as to promote local tourism, upon adopting the 5-day work-week policy in government at that time.
[8] Taiwan High Speed Rail and those privately run rail lines, e.g. the Alishan Forest Railway,[9] are not covered by both versions of the pass, as they are not operated by TRA.
[7] All versions of the pass cannot be used during the Lunar New Year period, when the demand for trains is very high.