Showcases - Seoul

World's largest contactless Smart Card installation in full operation in Korea

The Korean system integrator INTEC LTD. finished the installation of contactless smart card terminals in all 8,700 busses of Seoul Bus Union. The number of contactless MIFARE cards issued is 20 million and millions of 'contactless' transactions are being handled every day since then.

In addition to the 8,700 bus terminals there are currently 5,000 card reloading stations in Seoul installed at former "Token-Selling-places" and at Commercial Bank and Hanil Bank of Korea. The cards are issued as Stored Value Cards (prepaid cards) with a face value of 10,000 Won or 20,000 Won (approx. 25 US$). The cards are issued by Seoul Bus Union, while the money clearing is handled by Intec, who gained years of experience in this field by operating a Korean-wide Electronic Purse based on magnetic stripe cards.

Seoul Bus Union, representing 86 bus companies and operating the contactless smart card on 449 routes, is with this installation at present the world's largest user of this kind of technology.

Before the city-wide roll-out, Intec and Seoul Bus Union tested their system in a trial from October to December 1995 on 200 busses. The system itself as well as all used components proved to be reliable and mature. After the successful completion of this pilot, the installation of all busses was finished according to the ambitious schedule by July 1996.