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Concept
Octopus card
Summary
The Octopus card is a reusable contactless stored value smart card for making electronic payments in online or offline systems in Hong Kong. Launched in September 1997 to collect fares for the territory's mass transit system, it has grown into a widely used system for transport and other retail transactions in Hong Kong. It is also used for purposes such as recording school attendance and permitting building access. The cards are used by 98 percent of the population of Hong Kong aged 15 to 64 and the system handles more than 15 million transactions, worth over HK$220 million, every day.
The Octopus card system was the world's second contactless smart card system, after the Korean Upass. It won the Chairman's Award at the World Information Technology and Services Alliance's 2006 Global IT Excellence Awards for, among other things, being the world's leading complex automatic fare collection and contactless smart card payment system. Its success led to the development of similar systems elsewhere, including Navigo card in Paris, Oyster card in London, Opal card in New South Wales, and NETS FlashPay and EZ-Link in Singapore.
When Hong Kong's Mass Transit Railway (MTR) began operations in 1979, it used recirculating magnetic stripe cards as fare tickets. The Kowloon-Canton Railway (KCR) adopted the same magnetic cards in 1984. The Common Stored Value Ticket was a version that held a balance for use over multiple trips. In 1989, the Common Stored Value Ticket system was extended to Kowloon Motor Bus (KMB) buses providing a feeder service to MTR and KCR stations, and to Citybus. It was also extended to a limited number of non-transport applications, such as transactions and payments at photo booths and for fast food vouchers.
In 1993, MTR Corporation announced it would move to use contactless smart cards. In 1994 it partnered with four other major transit companies in Hong Kong, Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation, Kowloon Motor Bus, Citybus, and Hongkong and Yaumati Ferry, to create a joint-venture business, then known as Creative Star Limited.
Official source
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