Octopus to try again to get Hong Kong’s 40,000 taxi drivers on board following moves by Alipay and WeChat Pay
Tailor-made app that acts as card reader to be rolled out for drivers in April amid efforts to get them off cash payments
Octopus will launch another attempt to capture Hong Kong’s e-payment market for taxi rides following moves by two major mainland Chinese players to break into the industry.
Octopus chief executive Sunny Cheung Yiu-tong on Monday said the company, which issues the contactless cards that already account for the bulk of e-payments in the city, would launch a tailor-made app for taxi drivers in April.
The app will feature a card reader that can be used by passengers to pay fares on board, marking the second time it is reaching out to taxi drivers. In November it made available a QR code service.
Cheung said he hoped the new payment method, which would come with some “undisclosed incentives”, would break new ground amid entrenched payment habits among Hong Kong’s 40,000 taxi drivers, many of whom only accept cash.
Octopus has tried for years to push the use of its plastic contactless cards, which were launched in 1997 and are widely accepted across the city for small payments.
