Guangzhou Yangchengtong Co. plans to provide more functions on its IC cards, which are now used for public transport, and to expand the service to other urban centers in the Pearl River Delta region.

Launched in December 2001, the company has issued more than 3.4 million cards in Guangzhou.

The company planned to boost the number of cards issued to 3.5 million by the end of this year, compared with 2.5 million at the end of last year, Liu Daning, operations manager, was quoted as saying in a China Daily report Thursday.

Yangchengtong cards can now be used on all 8,000 buses, more than 4,000 of the 16,000 taxies, ferries, the subway and 480 of the 2,400 parking lots in Guangzhou.

They can also be used for public telephone calls, access to museums, residential community services, and small purchases at supermarkets, fast-food restaurants, convenience stores and vending machines.

Yangchengtong cards were used about 1.8 million times a day, Liu said, declining to disclose the value of daily transactions.

However, they would eventually reach saturation point in Guangzhou and the company needed to expand into other areas.

Official statistics indicate that there were 7.25 million permanent Guangzhou at the end of 2003, with an additional three million migrants.

The card would be enabled for use at tollgates, gas stations and for water, electricity and gas bills in the future.

Editor: Donald