Octopus cards
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| Location |
 Hong Kong
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|---|---|
| Launched | 1997 |
| Technology | |
| Operator | Octopus Cards Limited |
| Currency | HKD (HK$1,000 maximum load) |
| Credit expiry | None |
| Auto recharge | Automatic Add Value Service |
| Validity |
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| Website | octopus |
| Octopus card | |||||||||
| Traditional Chinese | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Transcriptions | |
|---|---|
| Yue: Cantonese | |
| Yale Romanization | baat daaht tūng |
| Jyutping | baat3 daat6 tung1 |
The Octopus card (Chinese: 八達通; Jyutping: baat3 daat6 tung1) 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, the Octopus card system is the second contactless smart card system in the world, after the Korean Upass, and has since grown into a widely used payment system for all public transport in Hong Kong, leading to the development of Oyster Card in London.
The Octopus card has also grown to be used for payment in many retail shops in Hong Kong, from convenience stores, supermarkets, fast-food restaurants, on-street parking meters, car parks, to other point-of-sale applications such as service stations and vending machines.
The Octopus card won the Chairman's Award of the World Information Technology and Services Alliance's 2006 Global IT Excellence Award for, among other things, being the world's leading complex automatic fare collection and contactless smartcard payment system. According to Octopus Cards Limited, operator of the Octopus card system, there are more than 20 million cards in circulation, nearly three times the population of Hong Kong. The cards are used by 95% of the population of Hong Kong aged 16 to 65, generating over 12 million daily transactions worth a total over HK$130 million.
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Wikipedia