According to the official announcement, the company intends to open its payment network to UnionPay, AlipayHK, and Alipay, enabling QR payments for Mainland visitors and Hong Kong passengers. In addition, starting on 25 January 2024, around 21.000 Hong Kong taxi drivers will benefit from these payment solutions.
According to the company, it is the first time it has opened its network to other payment platforms. This decision intends to make it easier and more convenient for the city's taxi drivers to accept mobile payments.
The inclusion of UnionPay, AlipayHK, and Alipay is projected to solve an inconvenience regarding paying for taxi rides in Hong Kong by providing more choices. Meanwhile, customers with an Octopus card can still pay with Octopus Mobile POS. Through this expansion, taxi drivers can start accepting payments by updating their existing Octopus App for Business. After updating the App, they just need to enter the payment amount, and passengers can tap their Octopus card or scan the QR code on the paired Octopus Mobile POS to pay. Thus, users will have the option to scan and pay, in addition to tapping their Mobile Octopus and Octopus cards.
Furthermore, Octopus intends to roll out a referral programme to onboard more taxi drivers to join the platform by 31 March 2024. To encourage taxi drivers to sign up, Octopus will waive transaction fees for taxi drivers until the end of 2025 and will give bonuses to drivers if they refer their peers to open an Octopus App for Business account. Octopus will also give newly registered taxi drivers complimentary Octopus Mobile POS devices and waive their transaction fees.
As per Octopus's official statement, the company aims to offer its customers a fast, simple, and secure payment experience. Since its network was already connected with most taxi drivers, it extended its range of payment solutions for visitors and residents to pay for their cab rides with the method they are familiar with. Thus, it encourages the adoption of more non-cash payments.
Octopus was initially launched to collect fares for Hong Kong's metro and buses, becoming the world's second contactless electronic card system after the Korean Upass. Over the years, the card has been widely used in all kinds of transport and retail transactions, even as an access control card in buildings, becoming an essential part of every resident's life.
Today, 98% of the city's residents aged 15 to 64 possess an Octopus and the system boasts a turnover of USD 15 million transactions every day, according to the company. To attract youngsters, Octopus also provides card art on iPhone and iWatch, allowing users to customise their mobile Octopus with themes including Hello Kitty and the new colours of iPhone 15. Moreover, mobile users are also being targeted with special campaigns, including a zero-foreign exchange settlement fee via Octopus-Union QR-code for transactions in the mainland and overseas.
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