Hong kong octopus? Everything?

Octopus is a universal electronic toll collection system in Hong Kong. The chip is embedded in a plastic card the size of a credit card, which can be charged and placed on the receiver to complete the payment process. Octopus began to be used on 1 September, 19971day. At first, it was only used in public transportation such as buses and railways, and then it gradually expanded to other industries, including shops, restaurants, parking lots and other businesses, and also used as a pass card for schools, offices and houses. The recharge method has also expanded from the initial recharge machine to the store payment office and automatic transfer of credit cards and bank accounts.

Octopus is one of the earliest and most successful electronic money in the world, and its popularity is also the highest in the world, which has become an important case of developing electronic money systems in many countries in the world. By 2005, there were12.4 million Octopus cards in circulation in Hong Kong, and the number of transactions per day exceeded 8 million. Based on this experience, Octopus Card Company won the contract to develop electronic toll collection systems in the Netherlands and Changsha, China, and plans to communicate with shenzhen tong of Shenzhen Metro in the future. At the beginning of 2007, Octopus was exposed that it had wrongly deducted deposits from citizens' bank accounts for many times, which aroused widespread concern in society and caused HKMA to intervene in the investigation. It was found that there were more cases of wrong deduction than that announced by Octopus, and Octopus Company was instructed to refund citizens.

Name and logo:

The Chinese name of octopus literally means "You can extend in all directions with your card". Chinese "eight" can represent "many", because it is homophonic with "fat" and "developed", so it is regarded as a lucky number. Squidward Tentacles's "Bada" comes from the idiom "extending in all directions", which means that one card can go anywhere with one hand. This name was selected by Su Jinhui, former chairman of MTR Corporation, in the nomination contest of 1996. Octopus, the English name of octopus, echoes the Chinese name "Ba". Octopus's wrist can grab many things at the same time, which means that octopus can be used for different kinds of transactions at the same time.

The symbol of octopus is an oblique Mobius belt, just like an Arabic numeral 8 and an infinite symbol ∞. The former is to echo the name of octopus, and the latter means to represent the "infinite" function of octopus.

Logo pattern:

History:

Since the opening of 1979, Hong Kong Metro has been using recycled magnetic plastic cards as tickets. This kind of ticket can be divided into one-way ticket and stored value ticket. Kowloon-Canton Railway also began to use this card as a ticket on 1984, and named it as a universal stored value ticket.

By 1989, the Hong Kong General Stored Value Ticket has been extended to KMB, Citybus connecting to MTR, KCR services, and also applied to some non-transportation services, such as paying in fast food restaurants or self-service ID cameras.

The subway finally decided to adopt more advanced technology. In 1993, they announced that they would use smart cards that can pay without contacting the operator. In order to attract more people to accept it, MTR and KCRC invited Citybus, KMB and HYF to form a joint company, named Lianjunda Limited (renamed Octopus Card Limited in June 2002). However, CMB, the major public transport operator on Hong Kong Island at that time, refused to participate. 1996, this electronic money system was officially named Octopus.

After a three-year probation period, the Octopus system was finally officially launched on 1 September 19971day. By the end of the same year, Octopus had issued 3 million cards in just three months. At first, Octopus could only be used on the operating routes of five companies of Lianjunda Co., Ltd., but by 1999, Octopus had expanded to non-public transportation retail services, and in the same year, it launched automatic recharge service and Octopus watches. In 2000, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority issued a license to the operators, and lifted the limit that the non-traffic business of Octopus should not exceed 65,438+05%. 200 1 1 The Yaumati Ferry Company, which just announced that it would abandon its ferry business, signed a new shareholder consent form and agreed to transfer its shares to New World First Bus and New World First Ferry Company. In the same year, Octopus Card Co., Ltd. turned from loss to profit.

On June 29th, 2003, another new function of Octopus was launched-the Hong Kong government decided to replace 65,438+08,000 parking payment devices in Hong Kong with the Octopus system. This operation was finally completed on June165438+1October 2 1 day, 2004. Almost at the same time, many government public facilities, including public swimming pools and gymnasiums, began to use the Octopus system. On June 5438+065438+ 10, 2003, Octopus Company won a contract worth10.2 billion euros to provide payment technology without contacting operators in the Dutch public transport system, and to merge the toll collection system of public transport in this country (these companies include NS, RET, GVB and HTM).

On June 5438+065438+ 10, 2005, Octopus launched a preferential plan called "Octopus Daily Reward". Octopus users can pay with Octopus or cash when shopping in designated stores (including Wellcome Supermarket, UA Cinema, Watsons Personal Care Store and McDonald's), and then use the Octopus card that has applied for the Octopus Daily Reward Scheme to store points.

Applied technology:

The Octopus system uses Sony's 13.56MHz FeliCa RFID chip and other related technologies. Hong Kong is the first region in the world to use this technology in the public transport charging system. Octopus's contactless smart card design allows users to trade only near the Octopus card reader without direct contact (for example, inserting the whole card into the card reader). In terms of data transmission speed, 2 12 kbit messages are transmitted per second. Mondex and Visa Cash, the electronic money systems that have been eliminated in Hong Kong market, are both contact smart cards, which can only transmit 9.6 kbit messages per second, so they are inevitably replaced by Octopus.

The whole Octopus system is designed by ERG Transit Systems, headquartered in Perth, Australia. ERG is responsible for the design, construction, operation and maintenance of the whole system.

How to use:

Octopus is a contactless smart card, which is very convenient to use in electronic money. Whether it is trading or recharging, the operation is very simple.

Transaction process:

When using Octopus to pay, the user only needs to put the Octopus card near the card reader, and the payment will be automatically deducted. The average transaction time is only 0.3 seconds. After the transaction is completed, the card reader will beep, and the display will show the deduction amount and the balance in the card. Usually, when paying preferential fares (such as bus fares for children and the elderly), the tone of "DuDu" will be higher. A higher-pitched and longer-lasting beep indicates that the transaction has not been completed, and the red light of the card reader will light up. Common reasons are: the card is not for the card reader, the balance at the time of transaction is equal to or lower than HK$ 0, or the balance after transaction will be lower than HK$ -35.

The reader can automatically judge the appropriate preferential charges, such as points plan, transfer discount and "subway discount station". As Octopus is a contactless smart card, even ordinary materials (such as plastic and leather) separated by several millimeters can be sensed by the card reader, so you can conduct Octopus transactions only by picking up wallets, handbags and even clothes bags placed near the card reader.

Value added:

Almost all stores with Octopus card readers can recharge Octopus, including "July 11th" convenience store, OK convenience store, Baijia supermarket, Wellcome supermarket, McDonald's, Maxim's fast food, Cafe de coral, Happy Life and other fast food restaurants. Recharge machines and ticket offices in all stations of the subway, Kowloon-Canton Railway and Kowloon-Canton Railway, recharge machines and customer service centers in some stations of Kowloon-Canton Light Rail, and customer service centers of KMB, First Bus and First Ferry (outlying island line) also provide recharge services.

Each Octopus card can store up to HK$ 1000 yuan. In addition, even if the transaction amount is greater than the remaining amount in the card, as long as the difference is not greater than HK$ 35, the transaction can still be made without recharging. In other words, the maximum negative storage value of Octopus card is 35 yuan dollars. This enables card owners to take most of Hong Kong's means of transport or buy goods even if the stored value is insufficient.

Applicable location:

Octopus is suitable for almost all public transport and some large chain stores in Hong Kong, such as convenience stores, fast food restaurants and supermarkets. Many new vending machines in Hong Kong also accept Octopus payment, including pay phone booths and self-service cameras. In addition, some self-service photocopiers also support the use of Octopus, including most university libraries in Hong Kong and branches of the Hong Kong Public Library. At some stations of the Kowloon-Canton Railway, you can even use Octopus to purchase Chinese mainland travel insurance. From August 14, 2006, retail merchants in Shenzhen (who only have a happy life for the time being) can use Octopus to pay, and Macao also began to accept Hong Kong Octopus payment from February 10, 2006.

Discount:

When Octopus is used, Hong Kong MTR and Kowloon-Canton Railway will charge cheaper fares than one-way tickets. For example, if you take the Hong Kong subway from the east to Chai Wan, you can use Octopus to charge HK$ 23. 10, and use one-way ticket to charge HK$ 26, which is HK$ 2.90 cheaper.

Some modes of transport also offer fare concessions to Octopus users, but these concessions are not applicable to cash payment. For example, KMB, New World First Bus and Citybus offer 10% discount or 15% discount for Octopus return on the same day on routes with fares higher than 15 or 10. In addition, Octopus interchange concessions for railway connections to other modes of transport, Octopus same-day return concessions for NWFB and Citybus, and Octopus short-distance two-way segmented charges for some routes of NWFB and Citybus are also examples of Octopus concessions.

Different Octopus card reader designs have different discounts. The card reader on the bus has four buttons, one is the same-day round-trip ticket discount, the other is reserved for the proposed same-day ticket discount, there is also a cancel button, and there is a reserved position to add the third discount. The card readers of minibuses and New Lantau buses are equipped with two-way segmented charging buttons. On some routes, passengers can press the button to select the appropriate section to charge.

Octopus is back:

As Octopus is one of the local characteristics, it attracts a large number of tourists, including free travellers from Chinese mainland, to buy Octopus as souvenirs. However, many tourists will return their Octopus cards before leaving Hong Kong. In order to cope with the huge administrative expenses returned by tourists in a short time, from June 1 65438+1October1day, 2004, Octopus Company will charge users who return their cards within three months after purchase as a handling fee (individual Octopus cards returned within five years are HK$ 10 yuan). The company also offers a "collector's edition" Octopus card, which is mainly aimed at tourists and others who want to buy it as a commemorative collection.

Type and form:

Octopus is sold at stations and airports of the Hong Kong MTR and Kowloon-Canton Railway. When purchasing, you need to pay a deposit of 50 yuan HK$ and a prepaid ticket worth 20 to 100. The deposit will be refunded when the Octopus card is returned. Generally, Octopus is anonymous, so you can buy it without showing your ID card. If the user loses this Octopus card, he will only lose the stored value in the card without losing any other personal data. Octopus Company not only issues three kinds of general Octopus cards for people with different identities, but also issues personal Octopus cards.

Different kinds of octopus:

Children's Octopus: The price is HK$ 70 yuan, and the face value is HK$ 20 yuan. It is suitable for children aged 3 to 1 1 year. Children's Octopus can enjoy half-price concessions by public transport (except minibuses and some country buses).

Children's octopus image:

Student Octopus (discontinued): price HK$ 100, face value HK$ 50 12. Students aged 25-25 can enjoy discounts by taking the subway. It has been replaced by personal Octopus, and this card can now be used as an ordinary adult Octopus card.

Student octopus image:

Adult octopus: the price is HK$ 150, and the face value is HK$ 100, which is suitable for people of any age.

Adult octopus image:

Octopus for the Elderly: priced at HK$ 70 yuan, with a face value of HK$ 20 yuan. The applicable age depends on the requirements of different merchants (Citybus is over 60 years old and KMB is 65 years old). When the discount for the elderly is not applicable, the adult fee will be charged.

Elderly octopus image:

Personal Octopus: Personal Octopus needs to be registered, and users' photos can be printed on it. Mostly used to enter buildings and other facilities, or to replace the student Octopus.

Personal octopus image:

Personal Octopus:

Personal Octopus is a non-anonymous Octopus card issued by Octopus Company. The name of the cardholder is printed on the card, and the cardholder's photo can also be printed. The age of the cardholder is also stored to determine the age group (children, adults or the elderly). However, student status needs to be applied separately. Eligible Hong Kong full-time students aged between 12 and 25 can apply. At present, the personal Octopus has replaced the general version of the discontinued student Octopus. As of March 2005, 380,000 people had personal Octopus cards.

Personal Octopus not only has the basic functions of ordinary Octopus, but also can be used as a door card to enter residential and commercial buildings and other facilities. When the personal Octopus is lost, the cardholder can report the loss immediately, and the operation of the card will be frozen after six hours to prevent the card from being stolen. City University of Hong Kong and more than 50 middle schools also use personal Octopus to record attendance and borrow books from the school library.

Personal Octopus can also enjoy automatic recharge service. Octopus card holders can register to use local bank accounts or credit cards to automatically recharge Octopus. When the remaining stored value of Octopus is less than HK$ 0, it will be recharged automatically by HK$ 250 or HK$ 500, and it can only be recharged automatically once every 24 hours. As of 2005, 20 local banks, including HSBC and Bank of China (Hongkong), have provided this service.

In memory of octopus:

Octopus Company will issue some special commemorative editions of Octopus from time to time, usually through special festivals or activities. They are usually worth 100 Hong Kong dollars, and the denomination inside is 10 Hong Kong dollars. Although it can't be returned, it can be used as an ordinary octopus.

Special purpose octopus:

MTR has launched a set of "Airport Express Octopus-Hong Kong Traffic Three-Day Link", which has two versions:

Take an unlimited number of trips to the Hong Kong MTR for three days, and get a free one-way ticket for the Airport Express at a charge of HK$ 220.

Take the Hong Kong MTR for three days without limit, and get two free one-way tickets for the Airport Express at a charge of HK$ 300.

The above includes the refundable deposit of HK$ 50 yuan.

There is also the "Octopus for Airport Employees", which is specially designed for airport employees and offers preferential prices for airport express lines.

Card-free Octopus:

Since 1999, Octopus Company has produced "Octopus Watch" which integrates Octopus functions. This watch is embedded with an Octopus chip. When using Octopus to pay, users only need to scan their watches through the card reader. These watches can be bought in the customer service center of the Hong Kong subway and some convenience stores. As of May 3, 2003, there were 1 1482 Octopus watches in circulation.

In 2002, Nokia also introduced the "Octopus Nokia Mobile Phone Battery Cover", which turned the mobile phone into Octopus. This battery cover is specially designed for Nokia 33xx mobile phones, including the popular Nokia 33 10.

Operator:

Octopus toll collection system is developed and managed by Lianjunda Limited (renamed Octopus Card Limited in 2002), which is a joint venture company of Hong Kong MTR Corporation (the largest shareholder with over 50% equity), Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation, Kowloon Bus Company Limited (KMB), Citybus Limited and Hongkong and Yaumati Ferry Company Limited. The shares originally held by the Yaumatei Ferry Company were transferred to New World First Bus Services Limited (NWFB) and New World First Ferry Services Limited (NWFB) on 200 1. Although this is a commercial business, the actual largest shareholder of Octopus Card Co., Ltd. is the Hong Kong government, because the Hong Kong government owns three quarters of the shares of the MTR Corporation and all the shares of the Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation.

Octopus Card Limited has expanded its business in Hong Kong and won several contracts to expand its business outside Hong Kong, including the Netherlands and Changsha, China.

The company is responsible for handling the transactions between the Octopus system and merchants. Initially, Octopus cards were operated under the "Exemption Card" clause of Hong Kong Banking Regulations, and non-traffic transactions only accounted for 65,438+05% of the total transactions of Octopus cards. Subsequently, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority issued a "deposit-taking" license to Octopus Card Co., Ltd., allowing the proportion of non-traffic transactions of Octopus cards to increase to 50%. According to HKMA, the stored value of the Octopus system reached HK$ 465,438+06 million (in 2000).

June 5438+October 2005 10, the company reorganized and established Octopus Holdings Co., Ltd., which wholly owned five subsidiaries including Octopus Card Co., Ltd. and Octopus Reward Co., Ltd. Except for the original Octopus Card Co., Ltd., the rest are newly established subsidiaries responsible for non-payment business, including: Octopus Daily Rewards (a reward points scheme developed and operated by Octopus Rewards Co., Ltd.), consulting services, customer research services, etc.

Description of Octopus Share Segmentation Diagram:

Popularization:

The Octopus system was launched on 1997, and nearly 3 million cards have been issued in three months. The main reason for the success is that Hong Kong MTR and Kowloon-Canton Railway require all stored-value tickets to be changed to Octopus, otherwise the stored-value tickets will be invalid, which will lead to about 3 million passengers who frequently take the two railways changing to Octopus every day. Another reason is the shortage of coins in 1997, because people think that the old coins in Hong Kong will appreciate, so many people save them. Octopus without change is very popular.

But Octopus sold out immediately after it went online in August. 1997. As a result, the universal stored-value ticket that has been discontinued is back online, and the personal Octopus card is used as a temporary adult Octopus card. However, the back of these temporary adult Octopus cards is white with no printed pattern. By the end of 1998, due to the sufficient supply of Octopus cards, companies stopped accepting payment of universal stored value tickets from 1999 1.

1998165438+ 10, Octopus has issued 4.6 million cards, compared with 65438+10 in 2002, with a total circulation of 9 million.

The application rate of Octopus system in different means of transportation is increasing gradually. In 2000, KMB revealed that most bus fares were collected by Octopus, and only a few were collected by tokens. This is because there is no change in bus fare, and it is more troublesome to pay with token. For example, according to the standards of 2005, more than half of CHT's sea-crossing lines charge HK$ 8.9, which requires at least six tokens (1 USD 5, 1 USD 2, 1 USD 0, 1 USD 0.5 and 2 USD 0.2). Because you don't have to spend time preparing tokens before getting on the bus, it is much more convenient to use Octopus than to use cash, which has become one of the main reasons for the rapid popularization of Octopus.

Another reason for the success of Octopus system is its universality. Unlike transportation payment cards in other cities, Octopus in Hong Kong is suitable for all means of transportation, and it has also become an electronic money charging method in many large stores. Octopus cards can handle most small transactions in daily life. Suica(JR East Japan) and ICOCA(JR West Japan) both try to learn the advantages of octopus.

In 2005, there were12.4 million Octopus cards in circulation in Hong Kong, and the number of transactions per day exceeded 8 million. The daily transaction volume exceeds HK$ 63 million, more than 300 merchants accept Octopus cards and more than 50,000 Octopus readers. Over 95% of Hong Kong citizens aged between 12 and 65 have at least one Octopus card.

Dai Yongmu, CEO of Octopus Card Co., Ltd. said that Octopus has recently entered three new markets, including laundry, printing, roll call of Sha Tin Baptist Church, enrolment in courses and canteen.

Calculation error:

In 2007, ten years after the Octopus operating system entered, the media exposed many news of wrong fare deduction and wrong recharge, which aroused widespread concern in society.

Among them, at the beginning of 2007, some passengers found that Octopus used EPS to recharge. Although it could not be recharged successfully, Octopus still deducted the amount from the citizen's account. On February 4th, 2007 and February 5th, 2006, the network upgrade caused an Octopus system error, and 57 1 transaction was found, but the customer was also deducted, involving an amount of 65,438. At that time, the media questioned why Octopus did not fully investigate the incident, but Octopus insisted that the problem of deducting the wrong money was related to the system update, and transactions before 65438+February 5 did not need to be investigated.

However, as Octopus is a deposit-taking institution and needs to be regulated by HKMA according to the Banking Ordinance of Hong Kong, HKMA requires Octopus to provide a legally binding report on the incident. On February 16, 2007, HKMA announced that Octopus had been wrongly charged before the system was updated, and appointed a consultant to provide advice to Octopus. After consulting the Financial Secretary, the Monetary Authority appointed Chen Zhihui, a professor at the Chinese University of Business School, as a consultant to advise Octopus.

HKMA's recommendations include:

Manage the affairs, business and property of Octopus Card Company to ensure that the interests of Octopus Card holders are properly protected and guaranteed in the operation of Octopus Card Company (including but not limited to the procedures of deduction and recharge transactions);

Matters related to the independent auditor's report;

Suggestions on implementing any improvement measures that may be put forward in the independent auditor's report.

HKMA also instructed Octopus Card Company to review all related transactions and voluntarily and immediately refund the customers concerned; Disclosure of all relevant information to the public; Continue to suspend EPS recharge transactions in subway stations and Kowloon-Canton Railway stations, and take action as soon as possible to expand the scope to all EPS recharge transactions except the two railway stations until all problems related to recharge failure and refund arrangements are identified and solved; To disclose the progress in handling these matters to the public.

Future development:

Shenzhen:

MTRC has signed a contract with Shenzhen Metro Automatic Toll Collection System to study how to use Octopus in Shenzhen Metro. This involves automatic currency exchange and how to convert RMB amount into Hong Kong dollar amount.

As for the use of Octopus as a means of transportation, there is no progress at this stage, because all the means of transportation in Shenzhen have their own systems, so it is difficult to discuss it, and for the time being, the mainland only allows Octopus to expand its business in retail. In addition, because there is no recharge service outside Hong Kong, people can only use banks or credit cards for "automatic recharge", and the current recharge amount has been increased to one day in 500 yuan.

Macau:

In addition to retail, they are also going to develop Macao Octopus cards, which will be settled in Macao dollars for the use of Macao citizens, but they will not be able to start the [source request] until the Macao Monetary Authority issues a license (it is known that the license has been issued). Although Octopus cannot be used to pay the fare in Macau for the time being, on June 5438+February 10, 2006, KFC Macau Branch, located in Meijie Street and Kym Casino in Shuikeng, Macau, announced that it would accept Octopus payment, and the charge was calculated at 1 HK$ to MOP. As for the means of transportation in Macao, Octopus has contacted relevant companies to study cooperation opportunities because Macao has an electronic money system.

Others:

Octopus also cooperated with Japan JR East Japan and Singapore in the sharing experiment of FeliCa. If the experiment is successful, it can not only use smart cards on public transportation in Hong Kong, Pearl River Delta, Japan and Singapore, but also become the first internationally shared electronic money system in the world. However, problems such as the security, standardization, reliability of international communication and the ability to handle a large amount of information still need to be solved.

Statistics:

As of June 2007, 5438+ 10, there were14.75 million octopus cards in circulation in Hong Kong.

More than 654.38 billion+0 billion transactions are conducted through Octopus every day, with an annual transaction volume of HK$ 28.2 billion.

Over 95% of Hong Kong residents aged 16 to 65 use Octopus.

There are over 50,000 Octopus readers in Hong Kong.

More than 426 merchants in Hong Kong accept Octopus payment.

Latest source:

Octopus official website

www.octopuscards.com/corporate/aboutus/tc/index.jsp