While in Hong Kong, I did some sightseeing with some American friends who were part of our group. They hadn’t been in Hong Kong before and my Hong Kong born friend had introduced them to the Octopus card so everyone in our group got this prox card (by paying a deposit), which is a convenient way to pay for public transportation as well as some goods in various shops like grocery stores. (On another note, I’m still waiting for Translink to become fully available in the San Francisco Bay Area.)

One day, our American friends were checking the balance on their card by waving their card using kiosks inside the MTR metro station. The information on the screen appeared in English. I thought I remember seeing the information appear in Chinese so I waved my card and sure enough, it was in Chinese. This might be the case from asking for the card in Cantonese whereas my American friend asked for it in English; it seems that the Octopus is configured based on the language you use with the MTR employee when getting the card. What a great user friendly low-effort idea!

My friend’s parents also recently moved to a new residence and the way they access the building is with a special Octopus card that also has their photo on it. My cousin tells me that the residences providing access control via the Octopus card are managed by the MTR corporation. Brilliant idea since most people in Hong Kong ride the MTR.