Bank Card Won't Swipe Correctly? You've Got Another Option in Your Pocket

Most Beijingers know the IC card (aka Yikatong) as the subway card, a handy swipe card that cuts down on waiting in lines or queueing at machines. The cards also mean a discount for bus travel, knocking the fare down from RMB 1 to a mere 4 mao. But that’s not all you can do with your card. Chances are you don’t know half the places it can come in handy.

We ran a blog post about the IC card a few years ago, back when the card's non-transit payment options were still being rolled out or merely rumored. Since then, of course, the number of venues that accept it as an alternative form of payment have expanded greatly. Here's an abbreviated list of those venues:

• Taxi cabs: 96 percent of Beijing's taxis are equipped to receive payment via IC cards
• Public pay phones: 90 percent of Beijing Unicom pay phones are equipped to deduct credit from IC cards
• Supermarkets: Wal-Mart, Jingkelong, BHG Market Place, Wumart, Bonjour, Merry Mart, Century Mart
• Convenience stores: Hi-24, Quik, Dia
• Fast food eateries: KFC, McDonald's, Hehegu, Yonghe, Big Pizza, Qing Feng Dumpling Shop
• Bakeries: Holiland, Weiduomei, Golden Phoenix

The full list (Chinese-only) can be found here.

So now that you know where you can use your IC card to pay, you're probably wondering: Just how well does it work? How easy are these transactions? To find out, the Beijinger staff has been whipping our cards out across the city.

Personally, we think that one of the most convenient uses of the IC card is at pay phones. The next time you run out of phone credit or battery power (or realize with horror that you've misplaced your cell phone entirely), you don't have to panic about being cut off from the rest of the world. Just look for a Beijing Unicom public pay phone. Simply insert your card and place a call. It'll cost you 10 mao a minute.

On the other end of the scale, using the card in taxis seems to be the most challenging. An informal office poll indicated that taxis were the one venue outside of public transportation where most people have attempted to use the IC card for payment. Everyone reported that taxi drivers were reluctant to accept payment via IC card – and that's if they didn't refuse outright. Despite the rumors, you're not obligated to warn the driver of your choice of payment; the card works just as well if you bring it out at the end as at the start. If you plan to use the IC card to pay for your cab ride, however, you should also prepare to be refused a ride, to be told that they only accept cash, or to be simply dropped off without having to pay. (Don’t count on that last one – but the fact that it can happen does show just how much cab drivers hate the IC cards.)

For another Beijinger's take on non-transport uses of the IC card, click here.

Do watch out for certain limitations when using your IC card around town. The card is supposed to be usable 24hrs a day, though we've heard reports that some venues will try to claim time restrictions on the use of the IC card.

Now, nobody's claiming that the IC card is ever going to replace cash or even bank cards. And in fact, that’s not what it’s designed for, considering that the maximum amount of credit that can be stored on an IC card is RMB 1,000. Obviously, your Union Pay-affiliated bank card is still by far more practical thing to swipe when you want to pay at a supermarket, mall or restaurant. But as we all know from personal experience, cashlessness can strike at any time. And there’s some peace of mind in the knowledge that if you ever find yourself staring at an empty wallet (or heaven forbid, an empty space where your wallet ought to be), that your humble transport card holds a stash of cash that can get you through that particular emergency.