When: 1996–97
Where: South Korea and Hong Kong
Why: Pay-by-swipe made travel ticket purchasing simpler, quicker and more convenient across the world’s biggest transport networks
How: The Octopus card in Hong Kong was the first contactless smart card technology to be implemented across an entire transport network
Who: Mass Transit Railway (MTRC) Corporation and others
Fact: In Hong Kong, 95% of people aged between 16 and 65 have an Octopus card. As of August 2011, daily Octopus transactions are estimated at over HK$110m with over 11 million counts
When Hong Kong’s major transport companies clubbed together to roll out pay-by-swipe technology across the country’s entire transport network in 1997, it had a domino effect across the world. Similar payment systems for public transport now exist in Moscow, Washington, London and a host of other major transport hubs. Moreover, the idea of cashless micropayments is not restricted to buying travel tickets; phone manufacturers and banks are increasingly interested in micropayment technology for general retail purchases.
Hong Kong remains at the vanguard of the micropayment revolution, where the Octopus can be used for a vast array of small cash transactions – everything from buying groceries to paying library fines. Other developed economies are catching up fast, and a future without coinage is now considered a very real possibility.
In the mid-1990s, Hong Kong badly needed change. As if adhering to the old British adage ‘look after the pence’, people in Hong Kong were hoarding coins embossed with the Queen’s head, believing that they would appreciate in value over time. The lack of coins in circulation was making small cash transactions increasingly difficult. Particularly acute problems were experienced at Hong Kong’s transport hubs, where millions of commuters needed to purchase small-denomination tickets for their journeys to and from work each day. The Hong Kong government needed a way of taking coins out of the equation.
Before the Octopus Card was launched, Hong Kong commuters pre-purchased their journeys on Common Stored Value Tickets, using a magnetic strip. In a move that would prove to be prescient, the Mass Transit Railway (MTR) Corporation had pushed for the Common Stored Value Ticket scheme to be extended to all other major transport networks in Hong Kong, creating ticketing uniformity, and a history of collaboration between the different networks long before the joint venture of the Octopus Card came to fruition in 1997. In 1994, MTR joined forces with Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation, Kowloon Motor Bus Company, Citibus, and New World First Bus to form Creative Star Limited (later renamed Octopus Cards Limited).
That MTR was and still is predominantly state-owned gave it considerable influence over other transport networks, which continues to this day. Indeed, MTR remains the largest stakeholder of Octopus.
Due to radio waves being used, swipe cards work within a range of a few centimetres of the reader, negating the need to actually swipe the card on the reader at all.
In 1994, MTR and four other major transport networks in Hong Kong founded a company called Creative Star Ltd. The company would later change its name to Octopus Cards Ltd and become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Octopus Holdings Ltd, allowing stakeholders to diversify product offerings and generate further profit. However, Creative Star Ltd was founded with the express purpose of modernising ticketing in Hong Kong and alleviating the change-shortage crisis. To that end, the company decided to implement a cashless ticketing system and tasked ERG Group, now operating under the name Videlli, to develop the technology for a swipe card payment system.
While Hong Kong’s Octopus became the first large-scale roll-out of a cashless transport ticketing system, and the model that many Western countries looked to for inspiration, it was not, in fact, the first swipe card system. Seoul, capital of Hong Kong’s close neighbour and economic rival South Korea, introduced its Upass swipe card system in 1996, a year before the launch of the Octopus.
The Upass scheme was introduced on a limited basis only, and has since evolved into the T-Money card, in widespread use across Seoul. Interestingly, Upass incorporated Philips’ MIFARE classic 1k technology in its swipe card, whereas ERG Group chose to use Sony’s FeliCa technology when developing the Octopus Card. MIFARE and Sony continue to be two of the leading technology providers for swipe card systems: MIFARE dominates market share in the USA and Europe; Sony has the edge in Asia.
All microchip technologies used in swipe cards, including those produced by MIFARE and Sony, work using radio-frequency identification (RFID). Radio frequencies are bounced between a reader and a microchip in the card, allowing for data to be read from and written onto the chip. Due to radio waves being used, swipe cards work within a range of a few centimetres of the reader, negating the need to actually swipe the card on the reader at all and explaining why some refer to the cards as ‘contactless’ smartcards.
RFID technology recognises when a commuter starts and finishes a journey, or makes a retail purchase, and deducts the appropriate amount from the card. Readers display the amount deducted and level of credit remaining on a card. Many swipe card systems currently in place require the cardholder to top up their card online or in person. Some swipe cards, such as the Octopus, allow users to set up an Automatic Add Value Service that tops the card up automatically once the credit drops below a certain level.
In a sense, the Octopus was always destined to succeed in Hong Kong. Commuters were given three months to exchange their Common Stored Value Tickets for an Octopus Card, after which time the former became void. This contrasts markedly with Seoul’s Upass card and later swipe card incarnations, such as the Oyster Card in the UK, where take-up was incremental and optional.
The advantages of swipe card technology are manifold. Most important for the cardholder is convenience.
It’s no real surprise that three million people in Hong Kong signed up for the Octopus in the first three months. They had no choice. However, government influence alone does not explain the continued take-up of and affinity for the Octopus since its roll-out – 95% of Hong Kongers aged between 16 and 65 own an Octopus. But this doesn’t account for the rapid implementation of swipe card technology in transport systems around the world, following the Hong Kong experiment.
Moscow Metro became the first transport network in Europe to start using swipe card technology, in 1998. Washington Metro Rail led the way in the USA a year later, with its SmarTrip Card. Boston and San Francisco both operate swipe card systems. London launched the Oyster Card in 2003, now used for more than 80% of tube journeys and 90% of all journeys on London buses.
The advantages of swipe card technology are manifold. Most important for the cardholder is convenience – one card with the potential to be used for a variety of different purposes. Commuters don’t have to worry about buying individual tickets for journeys or having the correct change to be able to do so. Transport companies issuing swipe cards benefit from increased security and fewer fare dodgers. As most transport networks are heavily reliant on government subsidies, money that would otherwise have been invested in countering these problems can be given back to citizens in the form of lower taxes or fares.
Swipe card systems have also increased the speed at which commuters can move through barriers at rush hour – particularly important in busy metropolises such as Moscow, London and Hong Kong. The standard transaction time for transport readers in Hong Kong is 0.3 seconds. And the introduction of swipe cards has also cut down on congestion around ticket booths and the number of staff needed to sell tickets, further reducing overheads.
The infiltration of swipe card technology in cities such as Moscow, Washington and London is almost entirely restricted to the transport networks. As a business idea, therefore, swipe card technology is in an embryonic phase. To understand the full potential, one has to look eastwards. Nowhere has swipe card technology so completely permeated daily life as in Hong Kong.
Since the Octopus launch in 1997, retail outlets, wet markets, self-service businesses, leisure facilities, schools, parking meters and access points to buildings have all been adapted to incorporate its use. RFID microchip technology is now so small that Hong Kongers need not even carry a card. Microchips can be inserted into watches, key chains and ornaments, such products generating new revenue streams for Octopus Cards Ltd.
Taiwan and Japan have, in varying degrees, followed Hong Kong’s lead. The Easy Card, introduced into Taiwan solely for transport purposes in 2002, can now be used to make small retail purchases. So too can the Suica Card in Japan. It seems almost inevitable that other countries using swipe card technology for transport purposes will eventually broaden its usage to include retail micropayments.
The UK has also begun making strides in this area. In September 2007 Barclaycard launched its OnePulse card, effectively a credit card with swipe functionality. OnePulse allows users to swipe for retail purchases up to the value of £15 without having to enter a PIN. Visa, Mastercard and American Express all now facilitate swipe functionality, but no other major UK card provider has yet taken advantage of it.
To understand the full potential [of the swipe card] one has to look East. Nowhere has swipe card technology so completely permeated daily life as in Hong Kong.
One possible explanation for the hesitancy in the UK (as well as the fact that the transport networks are deregulated) and elsewhere is fears over data security. In 2010 there was an outcry in Hong Kong when it emerged Octopus Cards Ltd had been selling on customer data to marketers. An extreme solution is Malaysia’s compulsory MyKad identification swipe card, which contains a biometric fingerprint stored on the microchip and acts as an all-in-one ATM card, driver’s licence and public key. However, this is unlikely to assuage the fears of those concerned about privacy. Most swipe cards in use are registered anonymously, few users choosing to give personal details.
The commercial advantages for suppliers and convenience for cardholders will most likely win out in the end. Sony’s FeliCa microchip technology is already incorporated into its phones in Japan and there are suspicions that Apple intends to follow suit with its iPhone. Meanwhile, in the UK, Transport for London plans to introduce technology allowing commuters to pay for travel using contactless-payment credit and debit cards; it is that hoped the system will be up and running across the capital in time for the 2012 Olympics. Swipe cards may soon be a thing of the past, but swipe-and-pay technology has a long future ahead of it.