Launched in September 1997, Octopus is a contactless smart card system jointly developed by the major public transport operators in Hong Kong. It has become very popular and can be used on most of the transport services in Hong Kong including railways, buses, minibuses, coaches, ferries, car parks and parking meters. In addition, Octopus are also accepted for small-value non-transport payments at supermarkets, convenience stores, fast food outlets, cake shops, vending machines and kiosks, household stores, telecommunications, photo booths, cinemas and more. Today, over 36 million cards are in circulation and the number of daily transactions is over 15 million.