EasyCard Celebrates its 20th Anniversary with MiTAC
Looking back at the significant EasyCard milestones over the past 20 years, including the Taipei City Transportation Pass, its expansion to outer counties and cities, its development into co-branded cards and use for making small purchases, and its transformation into electronic wallets, it can be said that it was the driving force behind Taiwan’s digital transformation. Despite competition from numerous cards, EasyCard continues to hold the top spot in the market with over 100 million cards issued and over 94 million cards in use.
1995 marked the beginning of MiTAC’s investment in the smart chip card application technology; however, at the time, Taiwan’s automatic transportation ticket system was a completely novel piece of technology. Smart chip cards were available in only eight cities worldwide, including Singapore, Hong Kong, and Kuala Lumpur. As a result, MiTAC entered into a partnership with the French company CGA (now merged and renamed THALES). Through collaboration and learning, the technical team’s comprehension of the system’s architecture and development capabilities significantly increased.
MiTAC introduces a smart technology system to create a green and sustainable life
Due to the difficulties in integrating the bus magnetic card system and the MRT magnetic card system in the Taipei metropolitan area, the Taipei City Government began planning a cross-transit ticketing system in 1996, resulting in the conception of the EasyCard. This policy significantly influenced the development of the EasyCard. Liang Su, Chairman of MiTAC Information Technology, said that the introduction of any project requires the assistance of government policies in order for the technology to really work. To facilitate the use of the EasyCard ticketing system on the Taipei MRT, buses, and parking lots, MiTAC adopted a flexible design in system development to facilitate the connection of multiple subsystems. MiTAC also assisted the Taipei City Government, transportation companies, and banks in the formation of the Taipei Smart Card Company in 2000, the forerunner of the current EASYCARD Corporation.
The EasyCard is the first fully implemented smart card in Taiwan and one of the most significant public works projects in Taiwan. It integrated various modes of transportation, routes, and management units, such as the MRT, buses, and parking lots. There are more than 100 different kinds of tickets that are created by various individuals and at various times. The system’s complexity, the variety of ticket types, the integration of new and old equipment, and the variety of cards are all among the highest in the world. However, the MiTAC team started developing the EasyCard ticket system in February 2002 and finished it in September 2002, which is a fantastic performance considering it only took 2 years and 8 months. Building comparable systems abroad typically takes between 3.5 and 5 years. (Building the Octopus card took 3 years, 3 months, and system tuning took 1 year. Building the Singapore system took three years.)
MiTAC Information Technology has worked closely with EasyCard for 20 years, and with the expansion of MRT lines, the change of ticket materials, and the increase in ticket options, we have been constantly evolving the EasyCard system services and smart devices to expand and extend the application of EasyCard and provide the public with the best services possible.
