coast stations. Contactless Smartcard fare payment TRTC pioneered transitcards in 2000 via affiliate Taipei Smart Card Corporation, which performs backoffice functions for TRTC, Taipei's Taipei Joint Bus System (market-sharing conference) group of bus companies, and other EasyCard merchants. In 2008, TRTC assisted TRA in implementing entry-exit smartcard fare collection for local travel within Taipei's metropolitan zone (Keelung-Zhongli), offering 10% discounts from regular local train fares. Smartcard holders can travel on regular local and express trains, but not Tarokos, Puyumas, sightseeing specials, nor in business class. When travelling on expresses, smartcard seats are unreserved. As expresses are often sold out, EasyCard offers de facto standee discounts. Travelers with only a smartcard entry and no reserved seat ticket boarding onto Taroko and Puyumas express trains will receive a considerable fine. All others including Chu-kuang and Tze-chiang express trains are available for smartcard entry. Origin/destination validation and existing fare control areas made smartcard implementation easier. Instead of punching tickets to enter and relinquishing tickets to exit, users tap-in and tap-out. Faregates are replaced with newer integrated designs as funding allows. In the interim, ticket collectors visually verify each transaction on low-cost stand-alone terminals, allowing rapid deployment. Smartcard development in Taiwan is currently fluid. With 13 million cards issued, readers for Mifare Classic-based EasyCard are already installed at convenience stores like Family Mart. Legislation authorizing "Third Generation e-Purse" (stored value limit ~US$300) was passed in March 2010, allowing smartcard payments for low-value non-transportation items, like Hong Kong's Octopus Card. Three major competitors hold regional subway/bus fare collection franchises (Taipei's "Youyoka" EasyCard, Mid-Island's Taiwan Easy Go "TaiwanTong", and Kaohsiung's "I Pass"), and TRA has active pilots with both EasyCard and TaiwanTong. Taiwan's MOTC expects to eventually integrate all electronic farecard systems nationwide. Rail pass Besides single ticket, TRA has also been offering various types of rail pass, with which travelers can ride on trains without buying single tickets. Currently, TRA offers TR Pass to travelers such that they have unlimited ride on trains within the set period. The pass has two versions - the General Pass and the Student Pass. TRA first offered the Student Pass to foreign students in December 2006 in order to attract more foreign visitors. The offer was extended to local students in 2009. Finally, parallel to the Student Pass, a General Pass, which could be used by everyone, was issued in 2010, so as to replace the ineffective "Round-the Island