clockwise from top left: oyster card. london / pasmo card. tokyo / luas card. dublin / matkakortti. helsinki.

yesterday i went to get a new matkakortti (travel card) here in helsinki. the new one looks amazing and took only a few seconds to be set up (they had to tranfer my details from my old card to the new card).

when the luas tram system started up again in dublin a few years back, i ordered the luas smart card. i had it delivered to a friends address in dublin and the next time i was visiting ireland it was there waiting for me. one of the first few times i used it, a ticket inspector walked through the tram asking for tickets. i showed him my smart card – he looked baffled, as if he had never seen it before – he didnt have a reader to scan the card.