Anyone who has spent any time in Hong Kong usually comes to appreciate the city’s Octopus card payment system. It’s an electronic card that was originally introduced as a convenient way to pay for public transportation, such as the Star Ferry, buses, the MTR and others. But since going live in the late 1990s, it has expanded to become a primary way Hong Kong people pay for any small-ticket items at shops such as 7-Eleven, Starbucks, vending machines, and even supermarkets. Simply by holding the card over a scanner, the cash is deducted. Other cities have tried to introduce similar systems, but none have become quite as ubiquitous as the Octopus card.

Guangzhou and Shenzhen both have electronic payment cards that are primarily used for transportation. However, Hong Kong’s Standard reports today that Octopus will be rolled out to a number of cities in the PRD next year by combining its functions with existing electronic payment systems:

Octopus Cards and Guangdong peer GDPass Payment Network will develop, by next year, the card for use in Guangzhou, Foshan, Jiangmen, Shanmei, Huizhou and Zhaoqing. Shenzhen is not included as it is currently using TransCard.

The new card will have electronic purses for Hong Kong dollars and yuan. Top-ups can only be done locally for the Hong Kong purse and in Guangdong for the yuan.

It can be used on various modes of transportation and at retail outlets that currently accept Octopus cards and the Lingnan Tong that GDPass employs.

This is excellent news for those who make their way around the PRD and into Hong Kong. The one glaring omission is Shenzhen, which has been rumored to be teaming up with Octopus for many years, but it’s never quite come to fruition.

As far as we’re concerned, the less fumbling around with stained 1 kuai notes, different currencies and different cards, the better.