If you woke up in Taipei on Thursday to shuttered offices and an unusually quiet MRT platform, here's why: moderate Typhoon Bavi is closing in on Taiwan, and 12 cities and counties — including Taipei, New Taipei, Taoyuan, Keelung, and Hualien — have declared July 10, 2026 a "typhoon day," suspending work and school. Trains and metros are still moving for now, but schedules are thinning fast, and the evening is a question mark.
For expats commuting anyway, tourists mid-itinerary, or anyone with a flight to catch, here is what's running, what isn't, and how to get your money back.
The typhoon day, decoded for newcomers
Taiwan's sea warning comes from the Central Weather Administration, the national forecaster, while the decision to close workplaces and schools rests with each local government, coordinated through a cabinet personnel office. Thursday's closures cover most of northern Taiwan — the four municipalities above plus Hsinchu County and City, Miaoli, and Yilan — along with Hualien on the east coast and the outlying Lienchiang (Matsu) islands.
A typhoon day does not mean transport stops. It means operators shift into storm mode: fewer trains, speed limits, and rolling announcements. Bookmark the operators' sites and check again before every leg of your trip.
Airport-bound passengers still have their express link
The Taoyuan Airport MRT — the rail line most international travelers care about — is running its full route on Thursday, though both express and commuter trains have switched to a holiday timetable, so expect slightly longer waits. The operator will adjust further if winds pick up, so leave earlier than usual for any flight.
Taiwan High Speed Rail, the west-coast bullet train linking Taipei and Kaohsiung, is also fully operational for now. The caveat: wherever wind or rain crosses safety thresholds, trains will slow down. THSR itself is warning that these weather-related speed limits can cause small delays that snowball into missed connections — so pad your transfer times, especially if you're chaining HSR to the Airport MRT for an evening departure.
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A closing window to leave the east coast
The east coast takes the first and hardest hit from Pacific typhoons, and the Taiwan Railway Corporation (TRA) — the conventional rail operator — is racing to move people out of Hualien and Taitung before conditions deteriorate. On July 9 and 10, its newest EMU3000 "New Tze-chiang" expresses heading west via the North-Link and South-Link lines are selling same-day standing tickets to squeeze in extra passengers.
Three things to know if you grab one: standing-ticket holders cannot enter car 6, the premium Teng Yun business cabin; EMU3000 trains do not accept EasyCard or other contactless transit cards, so buy a proper ticket; and this is a use-it-now option — the window may close with the weather.
The bigger deadline is 6 p.m. All TRA trains run normally until then, but service after that hour is undecided. The company, now under its highest-level emergency footing, says it will announce evening plans by 2 p.m. Thursday. If you have an evening or overnight rail journey, do not assume it exists until that statement lands — the overnight No. 452 express from Shulin to Xinzuoying is already canceled, and TRA's scenic tourist trains (the retro Blue Breeze, Sea Breeze, Mountain Mist, and the luxury Future and Moving Kitchen itineraries) are all scrapped through July 10–11. TRA runs 24-hour passenger hotlines at (02) 2191-0096 and 0800-765-888.
Planning a Chiayi side trip instead? The Alishan Forest Railway, the century-old mountain line, has preemptively suspended all services from July 10 through July 12.
City metros run slower but stay open
None of Taiwan's five metro systems has shut down — but frequencies are stretched, so factor waiting time into any city crossing.
Taipei Metro is running all five main lines (Wenhu, Tamsui-Xinyi, Songshan-Xindian, Bannan, and Zhonghe-Xinlu) at roughly 12-minute intervals, dropping to about six minutes on the overlapping Nanshijiao–Daqiaotou stretch. Elevated sections — including the driverless Wenhu line many visitors ride to Taipei 101 — will be adjusted dynamically as winds change.
New Taipei's cuts are the deepest: the Danhai and Ankeng light-rail lines are down to one train every 30 minutes (every 15 minutes on the Danhai line's busiest V01–V09 stretch), with the Circular and Sanying lines at 15-minute headways. Taichung Metro is normal for now but has hard wind triggers — trains slow to 40 km/h in sustained force-7 winds and stop entirely at force 8, or gusts of force 10. Kaohsiung's metro and light rail are running as usual, with adjustments possible as the storm tracks south.
Refunds are unusually generous — keep your ticket
Taiwan's storm-refund rules are friendlier than most visitors expect. Any THSR or TRA ticket dated within the sea-warning period can be refunded fee-free at any station, whether or not your train actually ran — and you have a full year from the travel date to do it. TRA will process round-trip tickets together, so there's no need to rush to a counter mid-storm; just keep the unused ticket.
Two fine-print points: THSR's standard late-arrival compensation does not apply to delays caused by weather speed limits, and Alishan Forest Railway bookings can be refunded in full within a year at railway stations or — conveniently for travelers — at any 7-Eleven in Taiwan.
The bottom line for Thursday: move early, build in buffers, and treat anything scheduled after 6 p.m. as provisional until the operators say otherwise.
