The Ministry of Transport is soliciting public opinions on the “Technical Application Specifications for Urban Public Transport IC Card Services,” which may lead to the establishment of unified standards for IC cards. These could be used across various public sectors such as parking lots, subways, and highways, truly enabling a “universal card.”
In early January this year, the “State Council Guidelines on Prioritizing the Development of Urban Public Transport” were officially issued. They call for the comprehensive promotion and popularization of urban public transport “universal cards” during the 12th Five-Year Plan period, accelerating their application across different modes of urban transport. The guidelines also aim to improve the standard system and gradually achieve interoperability of cross-city public transport “universal cards.” Previously, two technical standards—the “Technical Requirements for Public Transport IC Cards” and the “Technical Requirements for Public Transport IC Card Read-Write Terminals”—had already been open for public consultation. Yesterday, the Ministry of Transport once again sought public feedback on the “Technical Application Specifications for Urban Public Transport IC Card Services.”
The development of these specifications aims to meet the payment needs of urban public transport IC cards in areas such as buses, trams, rail transit, and taxis, while also providing the capability to expand into other small-value payment sectors. This will form a unified guiding specification to ensure network interoperability. In other words, IC cards may be usable in various public domains such as parking lots, subways, and highways, truly achieving a “universal card.”
Regarding preferential policies for certain groups, the specifications define terminal technical requirements, terminal application technical requirements, as well as the types of transactions and transaction processes supported by the terminals. Time-based and segmented fee deductions mainly cater to the payment needs of industries such as parking, subways, and highway tolls that use time-based or segmented billing. The universal card also supports deposit deduction functions. Among them, the offline pre-authorization mode primarily meets the needs of certain industries like high-speed rail, where fees need to be pre-frozen to prevent situations where cardholders forget to swipe their cards. Single-transaction discount features are mainly applied to benefits such as bus transfers, student cards, and senior citizen cards.
In addition, as the functionality of IC cards increases, the security of the information stored on the cards has also drawn considerable attention. The specifications separately address the security of universal cards, defining the security feature requirements for urban transport universal cards, as well as the security mechanisms and approved encryption algorithms involved in achieving these security features.
Focus on Beijing
Beijing Has Achieved Multi-Sector Usage
It is understood that while most cities in the country still have limited applications for universal cards, Beijing and Shanghai have long been at the forefront of urban universal card development. Beijing is also relatively advanced in terms of the technical application of IC cards across multiple sectors.
According to information from the Beijing Municipal Administration and Communications Card Company, since 2006, Beijing’s universal card has continuously expanded its range of uses. In addition to being used for public transportation such as buses, rail transit, the S2 line, and taxis, its applications in small-value consumption have significantly increased.
Using the universal card to pay for parking fees and fuel costs has already been implemented in some areas. Additionally, some tourist attractions also accept the bus universal card’s park annual pass system. Moreover, the universal card can be used for consumption in various sectors including supermarkets, bakeries, pharmacies, cinemas, gyms, restaurants, and bookstores.
Currently, over 90% of public telephone booths operated by Beijing Unicom also allow users to make calls by swiping the universal card. For specific consumption areas and participating merchants, the public can visit the official website of the Municipal Administration and Communications Card Company for inquiries.
According to a representative from the universal card department, technically speaking, expanding the use of the universal card into consumption areas is not complicated. It only requires the universal card company to provide card-swipe-enabled devices. However, negotiations with merchants are necessary. If merchants are willing, the universal card can basically be used for small-value consumption.