Jakarta to launch smart payments card in 2017

Jakarta will launch a new payment card for citizens in 2017 to pay for public transport, road tolls, shopping and health insurance.

The Jakarta One card is inspired by Hong Kong’s Octopus card which can be used to pay for all public transport, as well as parking meters, supermarkets, and vending machines.

The card will help the government track benefits for the poor. Jakarta already has smart cards to subsidise education for poorer students, but these are sometimes exploited by others. The new cards will include the citizen’s ID number, financial background, and family card number to ensure that subsidies reach those intended.

The Jakarta Government is working with Bank DKI and Bank Indonesia to get the cards ready. Bank DKI will be responsible for issuing and monitoring the cards.

However, Bank Indonesia will have to first provide a permit for the cards to be issued. To speed up this process, the government will share its population data with the bank, Governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama said:

"We will hand over all of the data to be analysed because we want all Jakarta residents to have this card." In the future, the card could be used to access public facilities like monuments and museums, Jakarta’s smart city head Setiaji has said.

Visitors will have to tap their smart cards to enter and exit the venues. The government could use this data to find out how many people visit and the amount of time they spend there.

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