Paying the bus

One thing you must know when you get into a bus in Taipei is that there are two ways to pay depending on the bus. You pay as you get in in some, when you get out in others, and I have been told that the modality may change when you change zones (there is always some extra complication here). It is not difficult to know what type of bus is the one that's stopped in front of you, if you remember to look at the lighted sign over the driver and look for the character


(shang) to pay as you go in, or the character

(xia) to pay as you get out. I haven't been wrong yet, up to now. Of course, the driver does not seem to mind when you pay, as long as you do it.