Taipei EasyCard Corp said yesterday it would expand the use of EasyCards to fast food chains and gas stations this year as part of efforts to promote use of the cards as electronic wallets.
The company launched EasyCard as an electronic wallet that can store up to NT$10,000 in value last April.
Cards can be used at more than 12,000 outlets, from convenience stores and restaurants to supermarkets.
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
Before last year, use of the card was restricted to paying for public transportation.
Celebrating the first anniversary of the EasyCard as an e-wallet yesterday, company chairman Liu I-cheng (劉奕成) said the firm is working to have the card accepted at major fast food chains including McDonalds, and gas stations this year, as well as launching a reward program for e-wallet users to enable them to gain bonus points with each transaction.
The company is also looking into the possibility of integrating the cards with ATM cards, allowing cardholders to withdraw money from bank accounts and shop using the card, he said yesterday at a celebration ceremony.
The company has issued 24 million EasyCards, and 4.5 million users have used the cards as e-wallets, with more than 80 percent of the daily 280,000 transactions taking place at convenience stores, the company said.
Former company chairman Sean Lien (連勝文), son of former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) chairman Lien Chan (連戰), also attended the ceremony yesterday, attracting media attention as he has rarely been seen in public snce being shot in the face at a campaign rally for a local politician in what was then Taipei County in November.
As the key figure who pushed for the e-wallet program during his time as company president, Sean Lien expressed his pride in the program.
He declined to comment rumors linking him to the post of deputy mayor in Taipei City.
“Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) is not here today, and I’m not in a position to discuss the issue,” he said.
There are two deputy mayors in the Taipei City Government. The Hau administration plans to add one more deputy mayor to the team, and Sean Lien has been spoken about as a likely candidate for the position.
Three Taiwanese airlines have prohibited passengers from packing Bluetooth earbuds and their charger cases in checked luggage. EVA Air and Uni Air said that Bluetooth earbuds and charger cases are categorized as portable electronic devices, which should be switched off if they are placed in checked luggage based on international aviation safety regulations. They must not be in standby or sleep mode. However, as charging would continue when earbuds are placed in the charger cases, which would contravene international aviation regulations, their cases must be carried as hand luggage, they said. Tigerair Taiwan said that earbud charger cases are equipped
Foreign travelers entering Taiwan on a short layover via Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport are receiving NT$600 gift vouchers from yesterday, the Tourism Administration said, adding that it hopes the incentive would boost tourism consumption at the airport. The program, which allows travelers holding non-Taiwan passports who enter the country during a layover of up to 24 hours to claim a voucher, aims to promote attractions at the airport, the agency said in a statement on Friday. To participate, travelers must sign up on the campaign Web site, the agency said. They can then present their passport and boarding pass for their connecting international
UNILATERAL MOVES: Officials have raised concerns that Beijing could try to exert economic control over Kinmen in a key development plan next year The Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) yesterday said that China has so far failed to provide any information about a new airport expected to open next year that is less than 10km from a Taiwanese airport, raising flight safety concerns. Xiamen Xiangan International Airport is only about 3km at its closest point from the islands in Kinmen County — the scene of on-off fighting during the Cold War — and construction work can be seen and heard clearly from the Taiwan side. In a written statement sent to Reuters, the CAA said that airports close to each other need detailed advanced
UNKNOWN TRAJECTORY: The storm could move in four possible directions, with the fourth option considered the most threatening to Taiwan, meteorologist Lin De-en said A soon-to-be-formed tropical storm east of the Philippines could begin affecting Taiwan on Wednesday next week, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. The storm, to be named Fung-wong (鳳凰), is forecast to approach Taiwan on Tuesday next week and could begin affecting the weather in Taiwan on Wednesday, CWA forecaster Huang En-hung (黃恩鴻) said, adding that its impact might be amplified by the combined effect with the northeast monsoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the system’s center was 2,800km southeast of Oluanbi (鵝鑾鼻). It was moving northwest at 18kph. Meteorologist Lin De-en (林得恩) on Facebook yesterday wrote that the would-be storm is surrounded by
RSS