Starting from March, MRT card holders can expect to see more functions incorporated into their IC-chip embedded EasyCards, which will enable users to pay taxi fares and parking fees in Taipei City.
With nearly 5 million cards in circulation, EasyCard allows users to pay for service on bus lines, mass rapid transit trains and public parking lots in the capital, simply by touching the card to a sensing device.
The card, which was first launched in June 2002, retails for a minimum of NT$500, including a deposit of NT$100. Users can add value to the card at MRT stations or convenience stores.
Taxi Fares
To expand the card's applications, Taipei Smart Card Corp (台北智慧卡票證公司), the official distributor of the card has teamed up with the Ministry of Transportation and Communications and Taipei's Parking Management Office (停管處) to extend EasyCard payment services to taxis and parking meters.
In the first stage, Taipei Smart Card has inked a deal to cooperate with Taiwan Taxi Co (台灣大車隊公司), a Taipei-based taxi service group that uses global positioning system (GPS) technology, to conduct a six-month trial in 300 taxi cabs, or 23 percent of its fleet.
The company will decide later whether the service should be expanded to other taxi service providers.
Taiwan Taxi Co welcomed the new service, saying it would help both cabbies and passengers save time and troubles, such as worries about fake bills or a lack of change.
"After the trial period starts in March, we expect that the number of phone calls [requesting cab service] we receive will jump by 20 to 30 percent from the current 10,000 calls a day," said Vincent Wu (
The company previously worked with Mondex Taiwan Inc, a subsidiary of MasterCard International, to provide a similar cash-free payment system between October 2002 and early last year, when it was halted as the company was facing financial difficulties.
Wu said based on the wide circulation of EasyCard and fast procedure for transactions, the service will become more prevalent compared with the Mondex cards, which must be issued by banks and require around five seconds for the specially-designed card reader to process the transaction.
Parking Sensors
As for expanding EasyCard to the capital's roadside parking meters, the Parking Management Office said 20 toll collection sensors will be installed along Dunhua South Road for three months starting on March 1.
Another 2,000 sensors will be placed by the year-end to better integrate various modes of transportation for EasyCard holders.
After several years flying high as Asia’s best Nvidia Corp proxy, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is increasingly vying with other artificial intelligence (AI) stocks for investor attention. Stock traders are chasing a wider array of beneficiaries as mainstream usage of AI creates demand for hardware beyond the most-advanced chips TSMC makes for Nvidia. Subthemes from the deepening memory crunch to advances in robotics are also luring bids. At the same time, investment caps on single stocks are pushing funds to diversify, while retail investors long familiar with TSMC through its US depositary receipts are being offered a broader set of
Netherlands-based semiconductor equipment supplier ASML Holding NV yesterday said that it is planning to hire an additional 1,000 people in Taiwan this year in response to growing demand from clients. ASML had previously planned to recruit 600 people this year, but that the plan has been adjusted upward, ASML vice president and ASML Taiwan general manager Grace Wang (汪佳慧) told reporters. ASML has a workforce of more than 4,500 in Taiwan, accounting for about 10 percent of its global total, Wang said. This year’s recruitment campaign would focus on adding people in the customer support, manufacturing and supply chain domains to assist ASML
UNDER MICROSCOPE: Taiwan detained three people who allegedly conspired to buy servers in Taiwan and export them using fraudulent documentation, prosecutors said Nvidia Corp chief executive officer Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) on Saturday urged Super Micro Computer Inc to tighten up on compliance after Taiwan detained three people this week for allegedly making fraudulent declarations about artificial intelligence (AI) servers made by its US partner. The development marked the nation’s first crackdown on semiconductor smuggling, which grew after the US slapped restrictions on exports of high-end chips such as Nvidia AI accelerators to China. Nvidia is “rigorous” in explaining regulations to all of its partners, Huang told reporters after arriving in Taipei. “Ultimately Super Micro has to run their own company,” he said in response to
Nvidia Corp yesterday announced that CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) would attend an employee meeting in Taipei tomorrow to celebrate the launch of the company’s Taiwan headquarters project. Huang would attend a gathering at the site of Nvidia’s planned headquarters in Beitou Shilin Technology Park (北投士林科技園區), the company said in a statement. After arriving in Taiwan on Saturday last week, Huang told reporters that he plans to meet with Quanta Computer Inc (廣達) chairman Barry Lam (林百里) and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家), and would attend the groundbreaking ceremony for Nvidia’s Taiwan headquarters tomorrow. Nvidia has not yet applied
RSS