The multi-purpose "Easy Card," used to pay transit fees on Taipei rapid transit lines and buses, passed the four million issued mark yesterday.
The Easy Card was launched on June 12, 2002 and is the sixth-largest circulated card of its kind in the world.
In terms of the number of people who own a card, it is second only to Singapore's traffic card.
PHOTO: YEH CHIH-MING, TAIPEI TIMES
Taipei Smart Card Corporation (TSCC), which issues the Easy Card, held a celebration at Taipei Main Station and invited two mayors, Panchiao Mayor Lin Hung-chi (
Keelung City bus operation office director Ting Kuo-ming (丁國民) and Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) also joined the celebration. The participants said they hoped the card could be used in the future to pay for other fees. Currently, the card can also be used to pay transportation and parking fees.
There are 10 cities in the world that use IC traffic cards. Hong Kong has the largest circulation of its "Octopus" card, with 11 million in use.
It can be used to pay for 253 kinds of items.
Mayor Ma said the TSCC has estimated that Taiwan's circulation could break the 5 million mark next year. Further expansion would depend on the added uses of the card, he said.
"From the stance of the public, it is best to travel around the country with an Easy Card card," Ma said.
Starting from Aug. 1, the card can be used at the Guting district population administration office to pay for copies of household registrations and other fees between NT$20 and NT$100.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is maintaining close ties with Beijing, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday, hours after a new round of Chinese military drills in the Taiwan Strait began. Political parties in a democracy have a responsibility to be loyal to the nation and defend its sovereignty, DPP spokesman Justin Wu (吳崢) told a news conference in Taipei. His comments came hours after Beijing announced via Chinese state media that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command was holding large-scale drills simulating a multi-pronged attack on Taiwan. Contrary to the KMT’s claims that it is staunchly anti-communist, KMT Deputy
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
RSS