How to Buy, Retrieve, or Cancel Alishan Bus Tickets at FamilyMart

I’ve already published a detailed article about how to reserve bus tickets to Alishan online and a timetable of all the buses to Alishan.

However, booking online is rather complicated and some people still have trouble with it. So, in this article, I’m going to tell guide you through the process of buying your Alishan bus ticket directly at FamilyMart, which is actually a little easier.

For those who did succeed to reserve their Alishan bus ticket online, I’ll also tell you below how to pick up your physical tickets at FamilyMart Mart.

Finally, I will also cover how to cancel (refund) your Alishan bus ticket online (if you didn’t pick up the physical ticket yet) or at FamilyMart (if you already have the physical ticket).

Also see my recommended Alishan itinerary and how to book Alishan Forest Railway tickets.

How to Buy an Alishan Bus Ticket at FamilyMart

Buying a bus ticket to or from Alishan is relatively easy to do at any FamilyMart in Taiwan. Yes, the FamiPort machine interface is in Mandarin, but I will guide your through the process step-by-step.

Here are a few things to keep in mind:

• You can buy Alishan bus tickets from the FamiPort machine in any FamilyMart in Taiwan.
• You can buy tickets 31 days to 1 day in advance. You can’t buy tickets on the day of travel.
• There’s no FamilyMart at Chiayi HSR station, Shizhuo, Fenqihu, or Alishan, but there is one here at T2 of Taoyuan International Airport and in every major city in Taiwan.
• You can only buy tickets from Chiayi Station to Alishan and back (bus 7322), Chiayi HSR Station to Alishan and back (bus 7329), and Chiayi Station to Fenqihu and back (bus 7302).
• The system will also allow you to book partial tickets on the 7322 or 7329 routes to some smaller stops between, like Fenqhu or Shizhuo. However, once you get off at those smaller stops, if you want to get back on a bus to proceed to Alishan or Chiayi, the only option will be to swipe EasyCard. You can’t reserve seats if you’re boarding at a smaller stop.
• To book bus tickets from Sun Moon Lake to Alishan, read here.
• After you finish making the booking, the machine will print a voucher, which you take to the till and pay to receive the actual ticket.
• FamilyMart takes cash, credit cards, and digital payments like LinePay or ApplePay.
• Besides following my steps below, you may also find it useful to use the GoogleLens camera translation function within the GoogleTranslate app on your phone to translate whatever you are seeing on the FamiPort screen.

Also read: how to mail packages using the iBon machine at 7-Eleven in Taiwan.

Now, let’s get to it! Inside FamilyMart, look around for the FamiPort machine. They all have one. Then follow the below steps to buy a bus ticket to or from Alishan.

Step 1: Select the second button, tickets (票券).

Step 2: Select the first button, transportation (交通).

Step 3: Select the last button, Taiwan Tourism Shuttle (台灣好行).

Step 4: Select the first button, Taiwan Tourism Shuttle seating (台灣好行劃位).

Step 5: Click the down arrow three times to scroll through all the pages of the terms and conditions.

Step 6: Select agree (同意).

Step 7: Choose which Alishan bus you want. Here are the 5 available types:

• Bus 7302 from Chiayi Station to Fenqihu (7302嘉義大雅站-奮起湖線)
• Bus 7329 from Chiayi HSR to Alishan – passes Fenqihu (阿里山線 (高鐵出發)經奮起湖)
• Bus 7329 from Chiayi HSR to Alishan – doesn’t pass Fenqihu (阿里山線 (高鐵出發)
• Bus 7322 from Chiayi Station to Alishan – passes Fenqihu (阿里山線 (臺鐵出發)經奮起湖)
• Bus 7322 from Chiayi Station to Alishan – doesn’t pass Fenqihu (阿里山線 (臺鐵出發). I chose this one.

They all start with 114年, which refers to the current year on the Taiwanese calendar.

How can you know which bus you want to catch? Consult my Alishan bus timetable. Even if you don’t plan to get off at Fenqihu, you’ll have to take note of whether the specific time you want is a bus that passes Fenqihu or doesn’t, as that will affect which button you push here.

Keep in mind that all 7329 and 7322 buses stop at Xiding and Shizhuo. But only the buses which say “passes Fenqihu” in the title will make the detour to Fenqihu.

After you get off at a smaller stop like Xiding, Fenqihu or Shizhuo, if you want to get back on a later bus, your only option will be to swipe EasyCard.

Step 8: After you select your bus type, click to scroll through the pages of information about the bus.

For this one (bus 7322 from Chiayi Station), it’s explaining that the bus time shown is for the first stop, Daya bus stop. Chiayi Station is actually the second stop, so you need to add 10 minutes for boarding time at Chiayi Station stop.

I’ve also made a note about this in my Alishan bus timetable.

Step 9: Select confirm (確認).

Step 10: Select your desired travel date on the calendar. Alishan bus tickets can be booked up to 31 days in advance, starting from 12:00 AM Taiwan time.

The arrow at the top of the calendar allows you to jump to the next month.

Step 11: Select the bus time you want.

Important: This list shows both buses from Chiayi to Alishan (marked with 去程) and from Alishan back to Chiayi (marked with 回程).

Make sure that if you’re traveling from Chiayi to Alishan, you choose one that says 去程 in parentheses. And if you’re traveling from Alishan back to Chiayi, you choose one that says 回程 in parentheses.

You can confirm the bus times by comparing it to my Alishan bus timetable. However, you may find that some of the bus times in my timetable are not available at FamilyMart.

There’s two possible reasons this may happen. One is that the bus is already sold out. Another is that the FamilyPort system just doesn’t take bookings for that particular one.

If you really want a certain time that isn’t showing, they try booking it online instead.

Step 12: Here is where you will choose a full or partial ticket and then click choose seats (自行選位, I chose this) or auto-assign seats (電腦配位 – the system will choose seats for you).

For bus 7322, it gives the following three options:

Option 1 above says Chiayi to Alishan (嘉義 – 阿里山). Since this is what I wanted, I clicked the + icon beside it for 1 ticket. You can buy tickets for up to 4 people in one booking.

Option 2 above says Chiayi to Shizicun (嘉義 – 十字村). It is unlikely you will get off at this stop.

Option 3 above says Chiayi to Shizhuo (嘉義 – 石桌). If you wanted to get off at any other smaller stop before Shizhuo, like Xiding stop for Eryanping Trail and SunSweet hotel or Longtouping stop for Hotel Indigo Alishan, then choose this option and just get off at your desired stop.

For the other bus routes, including 7322 via Fenqihu, 7329, and 7329 via Fenqihu, I forgot to check which partial options they give (somebody please take a photo of them and send it to me or share in my Facebook group, Taiwan Travel Planning!)

For the buses which travel via Fenqihu, they *should* give the option to stop at Fenqihu (奮起湖). If they don’t, please choose the next nearest stop – Shizicun (十字村) if you’re going up or Shizhuo (石桌) if you’re going down, and then just get off the bus at Fenqihu. Just make sure you choose one of the buses which has “passes Fenqihu” in the title!

Note about kids: Children under 6 ride free on the bus but don’t get their own seat. When booking Alishan bus tickets online, they give the option for children’s tickets (age 6-12, or to get a seat for your under-6-year-old) for half-price.

However, the FamilyMart machine doesn’t have the option for children’s tickets. You’ll just need to buy a regular priced ticket for ages 6+.

Step 13: Choose your seat. The seats in white are still available, while the ones in dark gray are no longer available. You can use the arrows at the bottom to scroll down the bus rows.

The ones on the outside columns will be window seats and inside columns will be aisle seats. Here I’ve chosen row 1 (1排) seat 3 (3 號), so it is highlighted in green.

When finished, I pushed confirm (確認) at the bottom.

Step 14: Confirm and print voucher.

Here you’ll see a confirmation of your booking details. The total price (240) plus printing fee (10), for a total of 250, is displayed at the bottom.

Select print payment slip (列印繳費單) at the bottom. If you need to make a change, select the button on the left at the bottom.

The payment slip is printing….

Step 15: The machine will print out these two slips. The left side one with QR code is the payment slip which you now take to the FamilyMart clerk to pay for your ticket. The right side one is just a record.

At the counter, hand the slip with the QR code to the staff member and pay for the ticket (ticket price + TWD 10 printing fee). Please note, they take cash only for bus tickets (even though you can use credit card for other things at FamilyMart).

Then you’ll receive your Alishan bus ticket, with a nice envelope to store it in.

Congratulations – you’ve succeeded in buying a bus ticket to Alishan at FamilyMart!

If you later find you need to cancel your bus ticket, find out how in the final section of this article.

How to Retrieve a Bus Ticket Purchased Online at FamilyMart

Let’s say you’ve followed my guide to book your Alishan bus ticket on FamiTicket, the online version of the FamiPort machine.

If you succeeded, you now need to pick up your physical bus tickets from any FamilyMart in Taiwan. According to the FamiTicket website, you are supposed to pick up the ticket at least one day before the date of travel. I haven’t tested to see what would happen if you try to pick up the ticket on the date of travel.

Please keep in mind that there is no FamilyMart at Chiayi HSR station, Shizhuo, Fenqihu, or Alishan. There is however a FamilyMart here at T2 of Taoyuan International Airport and at every major city in Taiwan.

Here are the steps for picking up your Alishan bus tickets at FamilyMart.

In order to do this, it’s assumed that you’ve already followed my guide to reserve your Alishan bus ticket online.

When you successfully made your reservation, you hopefully screenshot the booking confirmation, as in the above image. To retrieve the ticket, you will need the booking number (訂單編號) at the top-left, which for mine you can see is T3467633.

If you forgot to screenshot it, you can find it by logging in to your FamiTicket account and clicking your username at the top right.

You’ll also need to know the passport number (or Taiwanese ID number) used to make the original booking.

Step 1: On the FamiPort machine in any FamilyMart in Taiwan, start by selecting the second button, tickets (票券).

Step 2: Select the first button, transportation (交通).

Step 3: Select the last button, Taiwan Tourism Shuttle (台灣好行).

Step 4: Select the third button, collect Taiwan Tourism Shuttle ticket (台灣好行取票).

Step 5: Click the down arrow two times to scroll through all the terms and conditions.

Step 6: Select agree (同意).

Step 7: Here is where you will input your booking number from the original reservation. Then click the blue confirm (確認) button.

Step 8: Input the Taiwanese ID number (or foreigner passport number) used to make the original booking. After inputting, press confirm (確認).

Step 9: On this confirmation screen, the system should locate and show the details of your Alishan bus ticket booking. Note that there is a TWD 10 fee shown for printing the ticket.

Select print payment slip (列印繳費單) on the bottom right.

Step 10: The machine will then print two slips. The one on the left with QR code needs to be taken to the till to pay, while the one on the right is just a record.

At the till, hand the slip with QR code to the staff member. They will scan it, charge you TWD 10 printing fee, and then print the Alishan bus ticket for you.

Congratulations – you now have your bus ticket to Alishan!

How to Cancel an Alishan Bus Ticket at FamilyMart

In this final section, I will show you how to cancel an Alishan bus ticket.

Here are a few things to know about canceling Alishan bus tickets:

• If you already booked your ticket online but didn’t pick up the physical ticket yet, you can cancel it online. The page is in Mandarin – you’ll need to enter your name and phone number (make one up if needed (10 digits starting with 09, as in 09XXXXXXXX). It can take around a month for the funds to be refunded to your card.
• If you have trouble with that, then your second option is to go to any FamilyMart, print the ticket (see the previous section) and then cancel it (see below section).
• If you already printed your physical bus ticket, you can cancel it at any FamilyMart FamiPort machine in Taiwan.
• Keep in mind there’s no FamilyMart at Chiayi HSR station, Shizhuo, Fenqihu, or Alishan. But there are many in any major city in Taiwan and at Chiayi train station.
• You can cancel your bus ticket anytime up to 30 minutes before the bus departure time.
• You’ll get back the full bus ticket amount, minus a 10% cancelation fee. You also won’t get back the TWD 10 ticket printing fee.
• If you paid in cash at FamilyMart, you’ll get cash back.
• If you paid with a credit card online, you’ll have to pay the ticket cancelation fee at the counter, then the remaining ticket amount will be refunded to your credit card in 3-5 days.
• If you have any issues with the refund, contact FamiTicket on the LINE app.

Now, with your physical ticket, go to any FamilyMart in Taiwan, find the FamiPort machine, and follow these steps:

Step 1: Select the second button, tickets (票券).

Step 2: Select the first button, transportation (交通).

Step 3: Select the last button, Taiwan Tourism Shuttle (台灣好行).

Step 4: Select the last button, refund Alishan Shuttle Bus ticket (台灣好行退票).

Step 5: Click the down arrow twice to scroll through the terms and conditions.

Step 6: Select the blue agree (同意) button.

Step 7: Here it’s asking for a Taiwan phone number.

If you don’t have one, just try entering my (old) number above. All Taiwan mobile numbers start with 09 and have 10 digits. You could even just make up a number here, as long as it starts with 09 and has 10 digits.

You don’t need to receive a text or anything to get your refund. The number would only be needed if you wanted to later check the status of your credit card refund on the FamilyMart website. If you’re getting a cash refund, this won’t be an issue.

After entering the number, press confirm (確認).

Step 8: The machine now wants you to scan the bar code on the back of your Alishan bus ticket. The image above indicates where the scanner is on the FamiPort machine.

Please see the next image before you try.

Select start scanning (開啟掃描) on the right.

Note: the yellow 上一頁 button at the bottom right means “go to previous screen”, in case you ever need to.

Now scan the barcode on the back of your ticket. Here’s the back of my Alishan ticket and the barcode reader on the FamiPort machine.

However, when I tried scanning the bar code on my ticket, it didn’t work.

If the same thing happens to you, go back to the previous screen and select the manual input (手動輸入) blue button on the left (see image above).

Now input the long number from your printed Alishan bus ticket. The number is found under the bar code on the front of your ticket.

Double check you entered it correctly then select complete import (導入完成).

Step 9: If it works, the system will pull up your ticket, including bus number, seat and row number, original price (240) and cancelation fee (10% or TWD 24).

At the bottom, it shows the total amount you will get back (216).

Select print payment slip (列印繳費單) at the bottom right.

Step 10: The machine will print one slip with QR code. Take it to the till and hand it to the staff member, who will then process your refund.

If you paid cash, you will get the ticket amount minus 10% cancelation fee back in cash.

If you paid with credit card online, you will now have to pay the 10% cancelation fee in cash to the clerk (so for my TWD 240 ticket, I had to pay 24 in cash to the clerk), then the full ticket amount will be refunded to your credit card within 3-5 days.

I received my refund to my credit card in three days.

And that’s a wrap! If you have any questions about the above three processes (buying, redeeming, or canceling Alishan bus tickets at FamilyMart), please leave a comment below or ask in my Taiwan Travel Planning group and I will personally reply!