Taicang launched 3,000 new bus cards with expanded functions on April 30, according to the Taicang Commission of Economy and Informatization. The traditional transport cards can only be used to take buses, while the new cards can be used to make small payments in parking lots, small supermarkets and agricultural trade markets in addition to public transportation.

The bus card is a multi-functional and smart citizen card used for payment and identification. The citizen card will allow citizens to deposit and withdraw money, pay for purchases, see the doctor and ride on public transportation.

Taicang’s bus card now adopts the same standard as the city union card released by the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development of the People’s Republic of China (MOHURD). It is expected that Taicang’s bus card can be used in 35 other cities by the end of October this year, such as Shanghai, Ningbo, Shaoxing, Nanchang, Tianjin, Shenyang, Fuzhou and Sanya. About 20 other cities are expected to join the network soon.