HSBC’s PayMe now accepted by 27,000 Hong Kong taxi drivers
New channel launched after ‘significant uptick’ in electronic payment adoption by both riders and drivers, Octopus says
Taxi passengers can now use the PayMe mobile app to pay their fares to more than 27,000 Hong Kong cabbies, e-payment provider Octopus has said.
Octopus said on Monday the new PayMe channel was launched after it saw “a significant uptick” in electronic payment adoption through its network by both riders and drivers since it began accepting different e-payment options for taxi fares this year. These payment channels included UnionPay, AlipayHK, Alipay and WeChat Pay.
Passengers can use one of the designated e-payment options to pay their fares in taxis equipped with the Octopus Mobile POS payment device.
“The number of active taxi drivers accepting electronic payment has increased by 40 per cent, with the average monthly transaction volume rising by nearly 60 per cent since launch,” the company said.
It said seven in 10 taxi drivers in Hong Kong had registered to use the device paired with their Octopus Business app. Octopus does not charge any transaction fee.
Hong Kong is home to 18,163 taxis, of which 15,250 are red urban cabs, 2,838 are green New Territories ones and 75 are blue Lantau taxis. The average daily taxi patronage is near 1 million. The city has about 46,000 taxi drivers, most of whom rent a vehicle.
PayMe, HSBC’s e-payment system, currently covers more than 100,000 local and online merchants across Hong Kong.
