hong kong group get dutch contract

Tuesday, November 4, 2003

MTRC's Octopus spreads tentacles
The railway operator and its partners clinch a deal to export the technology


DENISE TSANG

Prev. Story | Next Story



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hong Kong's popular Octopus electronic payment system will soon be used by the Dutch after the MTR Corp and its partners wrapped up a 120 million euro (HK$1.08 billion) contract to introduce the technology to the Netherlands. The contract is one of the biggest for the MTRC's consultancy services and marks the penetration of the Octopus system in Europe for the first time.
The Octopus system, which is used primarily to pay Hong Kong's public transport fares through non-contact smartcards, will be implemented on rail, bus, ferry and tram services in 68 cities in the Netherlands, which has a population of 16 million.


"It's a nationwide project," Octopus sales and marketing director Cindy Cheng said yesterday. "It means a lot to us as the project is a recognition of homegrown technology overseas."

The Octopus system, devised by the MTRC's subsidiary Octopus Cards, debuted in Hong Kong in 1997.

Nearly 10 million Octopus cards are in circulation, or 1.5 cards for every Hong Kong resident. The system handles daily transactions worth $7.6 million, of which 90 per cent are transport fares and the rest from retailing services.

MTRC, Octopus and its allies Accenture and Vialis, through the vehicle East West Consortium, recently signed a contract with Trans Link System, an initiative of five major public transport companies in the Netherlands.

The consortium outbid two international groups through a public tender in March.

An MTRC spokesperson declined to reveal how much profit the company and Octopus would earn from the project but said they would play crucial roles.

According to the contract, the consortium will be responsible for the design, supply, implementation and maintenance of an electronic payment system in Holland.

The first phase of the project is due for completion next year in Rotterdam.

The rest will be completed in 2005. More than two million passengers a day are expected to use the electronic payment system when it is fully operational, allowing them to travel around the country on different modes of transport on one ticket.

Ms Cheng said the contract primarily covered the transport system in the Netherlands, but the application could potentially be widened to other areas, such as buying meals, paying entrance fees at public swimming pools and tennis courts, buying drinks from vending machines, shopping at supermarkets and accessing buildings and schools as security cards.

These services are already available in Hong Kong.

Octopus churned out a $19 million net profit in the first six months of this year and $68 million last year.