The Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MOTC) is considering incentives to encourage electronic ticketing service operators to make their cards compatible.
Taipei’s EasyCard, Kaohsiung’s I Pass, the Taiwan EasyGo card and the Taiwan MoneyCard are all incompatible.
The EasyCard has the largest user base in the country, with approximately 15 million cards in circulation.
EasyGo is used on public buses in counties between Taoyuan and Changhua. Counties south of Chiayi, meanwhile, use the Taiwan MoneyCard on their buses.
The I Pass is used on Kaohsiung’s MRT system.
Wang Mu-heng (王穆衡), director of the Institute of Transportation’s management division, said that the MOTC hoped card distributors could work out issues related to making their cards compatible and splitting profits.
Negotiations have not gone smoothly so far, he said, citing talks between the issuers of the Taipei and Kaohsiung cards.
“If Kaohsiung allows passengers holding Taipei EasyCards to board its MRT system, should those holding I Pass cards be allowed to board the Taipei MRT as well? Taipei Smart Card Corp may have a problem accepting this deal,” he said.
Wang said the government would continue to encourage compatible systems and could subsidize the installation of infrastructure for the process.
Wang said the MOTC also hoped to quicken the pace of card consolidation by encouraging distributors to make their cards compatible with Taiwan Railway Administration (TRA) ticketing.
The TRA may be chosen by the MOTC to operate the Airport Rail System, which is scheduled to open in 2014, he said.
“The TRA owns the nation’s one and only nationwide railway system and is also in the process of building its own electronic ticketing system,” he said.
Compatibility with TRA ticketing could help card issuers expand their circulation, he said.
Wang said the passage of the Act on Issuance and Management of Electronic Monetary Cards (電子票證發行管理條例) in January would hopefully put some pressure on card distributors to speed up the compatibility process.
“The competition will not just consist of issuers of electronic ticketing cards in different counties but potentially any card distributor, such as I-Cash cards from 7-Eleven convenience stores,” he said.
The MOTC said yesterday it had sent formal notice to all issuers of electronic ticketing cards informing them of the new law.
Department of Railways and Highways Deputy Director-General Chen Yen-po (陳彥伯) said the legislation defines multiple-use cards and says that multiple-use cards are to be supervised by the Financial Supervisory Commission, while cards for public transportation alone must be approved by the MOTC.
“The [MOTC’s] approval may come with provisos, such as improving the card distributor’s debt ratio within a certain period of time,” Chen said.
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