FlyerTalk Forums - How long to Octopus cards work?

FlyerTalk Forums (https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/index.php)

- Hong Kong and Macau (https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/hong-kong-macau-436/)

- - How long to Octopus cards work? (https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/hong-kong-macau/1816028-how-long-octopus-cards-work.html)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steve M (Post 27777895)

It was not a student, senior, or any other kind of concessionary card.

A minor point but I thought I would mention it anyway. In HK there is no such thing as student/concessionary e.t.c. cards (except for child/elder/Airport staff). There is a "Personalised Octoupus", with your name and picture on and you load your "student/senior" discount entitlement on it. You can still use your personalised octopus which you initially purchased to load your student discount on (can't use normal octopus for this), after student status expiry date (standard adult rates charged ofcourse). The advantage of it is that you don't have to buy the new plastic every time,unlike the London Oyster system,which is so backwards.

It's kind of the same with HKID,if you change your resident status,or visa you keep using the same plastic card,unlike again the UK Residence Permits for which you have to change the card every time you change jobs/educational institutions e.t.c.

Older cards cannot be read by the NFC android app to view the balance as the numbering system changed, I'm sure there are other differences, but that's the only one I have encountered.

evergrn, if you are really worried about the longevity of an Octopus, then just top it up with the minimum amount of $50 towards the end of your trip, and use it up to negative $35.

Then bring it home and back to refund at the beginning of your next trip. That way you avoid the $9 fee.

I generally refund Octopodes periodically, usually when at an MTR station waiting for someone else to show up. It is also a way of getting rid of my excess cash when I leave HK, and refunding it will give me some cash next time instead of having to go to an ATM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rami Tamimi (Post 27793594)

In HK there is no such thing as student/concessionary e.t.c. cards

There used to be a student card which was purple but I think it was phased out in 2003 or so

Quote:

Originally Posted by :D! (Post 27820014)

Octopodes

^ for the plural, I thought I was the only one to use it, never heard it from anyone else -- until now.

I had an Octopus card for over 20 years with no problems. I'd visit HK 2-3 times/year and it never failed. I just swapped it for a silver card in honor of my new senior citizen status.

Quote:

Originally Posted by dulcamara (Post 27880059)

I had an Octopus card for over 20 years with no problems. I'd visit HK 2-3 times/year and it never failed. I just swapped it for a silver card in honor of my new senior citizen status.

I thought they weren't introduced until summer of 97, no?

Before Octopus in '97, there was a stored value card that could be used on the KCR and MTR, though not on most buses or in stores. It was magnetic and not swipeable.

(The silver cards are actually green.)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steve M (Post 27777895)

I know that they deactivate automatically 1000 days after the last reload, but if that happens, you just go to a service counter and when they scan it with an online scanner, it will reactivate, including restoring the old balance.

My question is not about that, but about how long the cards themselves will continue to work. I thought the answer was "indefinitely," but during a recent trip, an interesting thing happened. Among my group, we had a card for each of us left over from a previous trip. One of them had not been used for 10-12 years. It was reactivated without trouble, but each time it was used, the turnstile (or reader on a bus) would make an unusual sound that other cards didn't, even though it otherwise worked. It was not a student, senior, or any other kind of concessionary card. When held against the "check your balance" machine in an MTR station, instead of displaying the balance and transaction history, it just displayed a message in Chinese. Google Translate said that it said "Replace card," but since it was otherwise working, we didn't bother.

So, how long will they continue to work before you must replace them? And, what is causing them to be "too old" such that this special beep is made by the readers? Is it some notion of component aging whereby they recommend replacement after a certain fixed period of time, or is it that there have been security enhancements over time and they want you on a later revision, or something else?

I still have one from the original lot in 1997 that's almost 20 years old now. It would be fun to be able to keep using it.

Octopus is encouraging people to replace their original generation cards:

http://www.octopus.com.hk/cardreplacement/en/index.html

It is optional at this point, but as you note, they will make a different sound when tapped. At some point I imagine they may force replacement.