By South China Morning Post | Created at 2024-12-23 08:01:27 | Updated at 2024-12-23 12:37:41
4 hours ago
About 27,000 Hong Kong taxi drivers will be able to receive payments through the PayMe service on their mobile devices via the Octopus app.
Octopus said the new channel, operated by HSBC, 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.
“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.
According to the company, seven in 10 taxi drivers in Hong Kong have registered to use the device paired with drivers’ Octopus Business app, while Octopus does not charge any transaction fee.
Hong Kong is home to 18,163 taxis, of which 15,250 are red urban taxis, 2,838 are green New Territories taxis and 75 are blue Lantau taxis. The average daily taxi patronage is near one million.
PayMe currently covers over 100,000 local and online merchants across Hong Kong.
