Octopus Says 1,000 Taxi Drivers Using New App

The Octopus card company said on Thursday that more than 1,000 taxi drivers have now registered to use a new app it developed to accept payments through the card.

By installing the app, taxi drivers can turn their smartphones into a reader for the contactless stored-value cards and accept payments from passengers.

The company’s CEO, Sunny Cheung, said drivers are being given up to HK$350 for accepting Octopus cards for transactions.

Octopus cards are the most widely used method of electronic payments in Hong Kong. But taxi drivers had previously resisted the use of them for fares, citing both high costs and delayed payments.

The company is now trying to get the drivers to accept the card by using their smartphones as readers, and is available for both iPhone android phone users.

Alibaba-owned Ant Financial’s Alipay and Tencent’s WeChat Pay HK also have entered the taxi fare market in Hong Kong recently.