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SCMP Reporter

TRAVELLING in Hong Kong is set for a radical revamp that will change your day and make the city one of the world's most technologically sophisticated.

   Within two years the common stored-value tickets used by an estimated 60 per cent of the adult population will become redundant.

  In their place will be the smart card.

   This sliver of plastic laminate houses more computer power than the original Apple Macintosh, compressed onto a microchip slightly bigger than the full stop at the end of this sentence.

  Most transport companies are involved, which means that you will be able to use your smart card to travel by train, bus and ferry without having to fumble for change.

  It might even save you money.

  The way you use the card is revolutionary, and you may not even need to get it out of your pocket to use it.

  The smart card will be the same size and thickness as a credit card, but will be electronic rather than magnetic. Instead of putting it in a slot on a turnstile, all you have to do is hold it about 10 centimetres above an electronic target and technologywill do the rest.

  A small circle of metal inside the card will get power from the lines of flux given off by the target. That power will trigger a small radio transmitter on the microchip. The radio transmitter will communicate with the target, and the fare will be deducted electronically from the card.

  The metal coil is so sensitive that it will work through an outside pocket.

   The impetus for the project comes from the Mass Transit Railway (MTR), but other firms taking part so far are Kowloon Motor Bus, the Kowloon Canton Railway, the Star Ferry, Citybus, Hong Kong Ferry and the New Lantau Bus Company.

  The MTR's technical manager for the project, Brian Chambers, said: ''This is one of the most exciting projects I have been involved in. It's good for the transport companies, and it's good for the passengers.''   Using cards instead of cash was better for everyone because there was less chance of their getting stolen, said Mr Chambers.

    The smart-card system would save the MTR and other common stored-value card users a lot of money, he said. Every year eight million magnetic cards were thrown away because they were bent or scratched and would jam the machines.

  However, the smart card had none of those problems, said Mr Chambers.

   ''We will be able to pass those savings on to passengers in the form of lower fares,'' he said.

  Bids from four card manufacturers are being considered, and the contract should be let in June.

       Field trials involving passengers would be held next year and, provided all went well, the smart card would arrive in bulk in 1996.



Smart card: you won't leave home without it