Octopus card

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A charger (left) for Octopus cards at the Mass Transit Railway (MTR) station .
The barriers of the MTR

The Octopus card is a rechargeable, contactless chip card that is used in electronic payment transactions in Hong Kong . Presented in September 1997 as the world's first ticket of its kind for the city's underground Mass Transit Railway (MTR), it has become a widely used non-cash payment. It can be used in grocery stores, supermarkets and parking garages, among others. With over 24 million Octopus cards in circulation and almost 300 service companies that accept them, it is one of the world's most successful e-cash systems (as of January 2006). It replaced the previous magnetic card system, called "Common Stored Value Ticket".

Acquisition of the card

Since the Octopus card is anonymous, the user does not have to register anywhere or show their ID when purchasing. It can be purchased at the service desks at the stations of the Mass Transit Railway (MTR) and Kowloon-Canton Railway (KCR). The card is not bought, but borrowed. With every purchase of the card, 50 HKD (5.45 EUR) is included as a deposit in the cost. If the card is lost, only the credit stored on it is lost. No personal information about bank account details or credit card details is stored in the internal memory of the card. The "personalized" Octopus card is excluded.

If you return the card, you will be paid the deposit amount together with the remaining credit on the card. A return fee may be charged.

Octopus wristwatches were also produced and can be bought at the MTR service counters and in 7-Eleven stores.

Type of use

Octopus card reader on the bus
Octopus card reader in McDonald’s

The card can be used on almost all transport systems in Hong Kong (excluding taxis), many shops in the city, including 7-Eleven , McDonald’s and Starbucks .

Although the Octopus card is anonymous, each one contains a unique serial number. Therefore it is used in some buildings for access control. Access is only granted to people with cards registered in the system.

The Octopus card works without contact through common materials such as cotton or leather up to a distance of several centimeters. The debiting of the credit takes 0.3 seconds. The debiting of the Octopus card is a partial route procedure (storage and forwarding), i. H. the card readers do not need a permanent connection to a central database or a computer. The stored information about a charge is called up hours later via a computer or can be read out by a billing device (usually a Pocket PC ).

The private Creative Star Limited (CSL) started operations in 1993 and is responsible for balancing accounts between the Octopus system and the operators or dealers. As a result of this activity, the CSL is authorized to collect payments from the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA).

Facts

  • Over 24 million Octopus cards are in circulation.
  • 95% of Hong Kong's population, between the ages of 16 and 65, used them.
  • Over 12 million business transactions take place every day.
  • Daily transactions total more than 130 million Hong Kong dollars (HKD)
  • In 2003 around 25% of transactions were not due to transport.

Card types

Standard cards

Type Cost and usage
child Children ages 3-11. This card sells for HKD 70 (EUR 7.62) with HKD 20 in credit. Child carriage charge will be deducted where applicable.
Adults The standard version of the Octopus card. This card sells for 150 HKD (EUR 16.34) with a balance of 100 HKD. The color is also used for the logo of Octopus Cards Limited , the operator.
pensioner Eligibility requirements vary between different means of public transport and also between the operational routes of the same company. If tariffs for retirees are not available, then adult tariffs will be applied. This card sells for HKD 70 with an initial balance of HKD 20.

Personalized Octopus Card

A recently released variant is the “personalized” Octopus card, which contains the holder's bank account connection to ensure automatic top-up or automated payment. In this case, however, one waives anonymity. However, it offers the convenience of automatic top-up of HKD 250 (EUR 27.23) if the credit should be used up. The card can be blocked against misuse if it is lost. These cards are also used to identify residents of residential complexes in order to gain entry to the site.

Special octopus "cards"

There is a wristwatch that contains the octopus chip in a plastic bracelet. The user only has to slide his wrist over the card reader. Nokia produced an Octo-Phone, which contains the chip in the Xpress-on -Cover of the mobile phones (Nokia 3300 series).

technology

The Octopus system was developed by AES Prodata (Hong Kong) Limited, a member of the ERG Group of Companies (since 2009 Videlli Limited ) headquartered near Perth , Australia . AES Prodata is responsible for the design, construction, operation, maintenance and financing of the collection of fares in the Octopus system.

The Octopus card uses RFID (radio frequency identification) technology so that the user only has to hold the card close to the reader. Direct contact is not necessary. The FeliCa chip is used as a microchip with over 12 million cards shipped for Hong Kong . Octopus uses a non-standardized process for RFID because in 1997, during the development phase, this branch of industry was still under construction and no standard had yet emerged. This differs, for example, from the Clipper card designed in 2010 , which relies on near field communication .

In order to transfer the information about the bookings, the stops are equipped with local networks ( LAN ) that can handle various devices such as turnstiles, top-up terminals and card validators for the Octopus card. Such a network has a Frame Relay - wide area network to connect to the headquarters in the port of Kowloon . From there all transactions, debits, user statistics and card top-ups are managed, which are transmitted daily by the various service providers.

Similar technology is still used for the following cards:

Web links

Commons : Octopus Cards  - Collection of Images

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d Benefits for Your Business - Octopus Hong Kong. Retrieved March 6, 2014 .
  2. ↑ RFID Journal - RFID Smart Cards Gain Ground. Retrieved January 7, 2013 .