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Transit authorities in Beijing want operators of some 67,000 taxicabs to install readers that accept prepaid transit cards, according to state-owned Xinhua newspaper. The Beijing Traffic Management Bureau wants taxi operators to begin upgrades next month. The city's transit officials began issuing prepaid chip cards in April 2006 that residents can use to pay for bus and train rides and for some retail purchases. "The acceptance of transit cards in taxis is good for Beijing," Hua Zhang, a banking analyst in the China office of United States-based Celent LLC, tells CardLine Global. "Paying small amounts of cash for taxis is very troublesome." Beijing has more than 25 million prepaid transit cards in circulation, according to Celent.
