Hsinchu County→Grand Forward Hotel

To take the High Speed Rail (HSR) from Hsinchu County to Grand Forward Hotel, HSR is quick but pricey, involves transfer hassles, and has difficult taxi access. From the earliest departure at 06:36 to the latest at 23:27, there are up to 63 high-speed rail from Hsinchu to Banqiao each day. Assuming you depart from Zhubei City, Hsinchu County, you may walk or take a bus—if available—to Hsinchu HSR station. Including walking to the platform, buying a ticket, and waiting for the train, it takes at least 15 minutes. Then, take a 23-27-minute (25 min on average) HSR ride from Hsinchu Station to Banqiao HSR Station. The ticket price is NT$260 per person, followed by a 10-minute walk to exit the station. Depending on the area, you may take a short walk or catch a bus (if available) to reach your final destination. The entire journey, including transfers, takes a total of 50 minutes. Assuming 7 people traveling together (and have to split into two taxis), the average cost per person for the HSR and transfers is NT$260. However, in Hsinchu County, there are only just over 700 licensed taxis. The taxi density is 1.3% of that in the Taipei/New Taipei metro area. In other words, hailing a taxi on the spot is 80 times more difficult than in a major city like Taipei. In contrast, if you use Tripool for a door-to-door private car service, the average cost per person is about NT$240, and the journey takes 1 hour and 9 minutes. For long-distance travel, the HSR is indeed faster, but it comes with an extra transportation cost of about NT$140. Therefore, for those who are not in a major hurry, booking with Tripool is the more cost-effective option. If you are traveling in a group of three or less, you can also consider Tripool's carpooling service to save up to an additional 50% on transportation costs.

If you have a Taiwanese driver's license, are confident in your driving skills, and you do not need to rest in the car (since you will be the one driving), then iRent, which offers one-way rentals in the Taipei, New Taipei, Keelung, Taoyuan, and Hsinchu areas, should be a good fit for you. After registering on the iRent app, you can rent a small car for NT$115-205 per hour (rates vary by weekday/weekend and car model) with an additional charge of NT$3.2 per kilometer. The estimated cost from Hsinchu County (Zhubei City) to Grand Forward Hotel is between NT$500 and NT$650. Although the estimate already includes potential eTag tolls and a roadside parking fee of NT$40 per hour, you are responsible for any additional car insurance and potential traffic fines. Furthermore, iRent by Hotai only offers basic models like the Toyota Yaris, Prius C, and Vios—functional, yes, but far from the comfort you'd expect for anything beyond a grocery run. If your group has more than four people, larger 7-seater or 9-seater vehicles are not available. Moreover, the most common complaint about self-service car-sharing services is the vehicle's condition; you might open the door to find trash left by the previous user or unrepaired dents. Every rental feels like opening a blind box—sometimes fine, sometimes frustrating. Additionally, you might occasionally face issues like the previous user not returning the car on time for your reservation, or being unable to find a parking spot when you need to return it. This poses a significant risk for those in a hurry or traveling with other passengers. Finally, while picking up and dropping off the car on the street seems convenient, it is restricted to specific operational zones. The available parking spots may still be some distance away from your actual departure or arrival point, making it very inconvenient in rainy weather or when carrying luggage.

If you choose to take a taxi directly, in the Hsinchu County area, you can use apps to hail a cab from 55688 Taiwan Taxi, Uber, Line Go, Yoxi, etc., and if you cannot hail a cab on the street, you can also consider calling taxi fleets, such as 銓順交通, 第一計程車, 竹北-Ap車隊 to try to book a ride. Based on the meter, the estimated fare is between NT$1,445 and 1,700, but by booking with the Tripool app, you can get a private car service for about a 10-25% discount. But if you cannot book in advance or prefer to hail a cab on the spot, be aware that in the whole Hsinchu County, there are only about 730 licensed taxis. The taxi density is just 1.3% of that in the Taipei/New Taipei metro area, meaning it is 80 times more difficult to hail a cab on the spot compared to Taipei or New Taipei. Considering all factors, Tripool is your best choice for traveling from Hsinchu County to Grand Forward Hotel in terms of both price and service quality.

Once the booking process is completed and getting an order ID, the reservation is confirmed. Tripool promises a private car will pick passengers up on time. All the essential information, such as the driver's name, mobile number, car model, and car plate number, will be sent via SMS and email. If the driver is not at the pick-up location, passengers can contact the driver via mobile phone. The driver may be away due to a lack of parking space and waiting nearby. Suppose there is some serious emergency or traffic jam to delay the trip. In that case, tripool will rearrange a driver to reduce passengers' waiting time.

Tripool provides 5-seater sedans, SUVs, and 9-seater vans for private car service. Toyota, Ford, Volkswagen are the most used brands, and there are also a few Lexus, Tesla, and Mercedes-Benz. All vehicles are legal, in good condition, non-smoking, and with up to $5 million insurance. If you have special requests or passengers are more than 8, tripool can arrange a VW Crafter, a 20-seater minibus, or a 40-seater tour bus. Please fill up the request form on our homepage, and we will provide a quote.

Tripool will send a receipt through the third-party system one week after the ride. If passengers need to claim reimbursement for travel expenses, there is a blank to fill with the company's title and tax ID. It's legal, and there is no extra 5% for the receipt. Once the receipt is received via email, it can be printed out for reimbursement or saved as a PDF.

For regular long-distance travelers, they find Tripool's price may be too low to be good. On the contrary, Tripool has a high standard for selecting drivers and vehicles. Besides dropping drivers who are low rated, we also send mystery shoppers regularly to test drivers' service. Tripool's drivers are not allowed to smoke in the cars, and they have to wear masks all the time during the pandemic. We don't compromise our service for a low cost. Tripool can provide excellent service with 70~80% of the market price because of AI algorithms. We use these to dispatch vehicles to increase efficiency. Tripool can use fewer drivers to serve more travelers, especially in high seasons like Chinese New Year, Christmas, and summer vacation. Fewer drivers mean better quality control. The price on tripool's website and app are dynamic. Generally, the earlier a ride is booked, the lower price it is. Most of all, all booking are 100% refundable as long as the cancelation request is made one day before noon, no matter what the reason is. If you are preparing to go from Hsinchu County to Grand Forward Hotel, it's better to reserve it now to secure the best price.

Fewer travelers book hotels through traditional travel agents, and most go through OTAs (online travel agents). It is easy to filter areas, prices, types of rooms, special needs on OTAs' websites. Still, customers can also get a 20~40% discount compared to hotels' official websites. The most popular OTAs in Taiwan are Booking.com, Agoda.com, Hotels.com, Expedia.com, and Trip.com. In general, travelers can make reservations on websites or apps. Once finishing the online payment, everything is set, and there is not necessary to double-check the reservation by phone. However, some hotels may oversell their rooms on multiple platforms. To avoid being rejected by hotels once you arrive, choose high-rated hotels with more reviews online or make a phone call to hotels to confirm again. For B&Bs (also called minsus), locals prefer to book rooms through B&Bs' websites or contact the hosts directly. Sometimes, the price is better than OTAs. The downside is that their websites don't accept foreign credit cards or guests have to do wire transfers. If you want to save all these troubles and find decent B&Bs, Airbnb and AsiaYo (a local brand) are the best alternatives.