[culturestate]

Really? I only lived in London briefly years ago, but I can’t remember ever coming across Oyster in any non-transit setting. Maybe it’s like Suica in Tokyo? Technically capable of the same stuff but rarely deployed in practice.

Octopus, in contrast, is almost literally everywhere (except most taxis, sadly). You can use it to buy everything from groceries to petrol.

[jrockway]

Pretty much all convenience stores accept Suica. It's much closer to Octopus than Oyster.

[Symbiote]

> Technically capable of the same stuff but rarely deployed in practice.

Exactly. I doubt it's been accepted anywhere since contactless Visa/Mastercard was introduced in the UK about 2007.

[frosted-flakes]

Why though? What's wrong with a normal bank card?

[bobthepanda]

Less cards to carry.

Also, technically, Octopus is a very special bank card, as it's regulated by the HKMA and has a deposits license.