Etoile Card is both a contactless and contact Smart Card that can be used to pay your bus fares and make small purchases. It will be used for payment in the bus as easy as Tap and Go. The fare will be automatically deducted from the Card Balance. Etoile Card can be used wherever VISA cards are accepted. The benefits of Etoile card are: • Better security as it will create a cashless environment • Smoother bus travel The Etoile Card is being launched in close collaboration with VISA and Rose Hill Transport. It is meant to ease the life of bus commuters and being more convenient and secure, it avoids the bus transport company from carrying cash. The card being contactless can be waved in front of terminals with no need for it to be swiped or inserted into readers. The Etoile card will also handle payments at any point of sales accepting VISA cards. The Etoile card can be topped up via ATMs, Internet or mobile phones. The Website is http://www.etoile.mu The Managing Director of Rose Hill Transport, Mr Sanjiv Goburdhun said, “Rose Hill Transport intends to launch a full-scale trial of the Etoile card on its whole fleet as from the first quarter next year. The cards will be available much sooner and the list of participating banks and retail stores will be announced shortly. The Etoile project will also include other stakeholders in the transport industry so as to offer a truly unified travel card.” VISA Country Director Sub Saharan Africa, Mr. Chris Corbett said, “We welcome the opportunity to partner with Payment Exchange and Rose Hill Transport – and to work with other institutions that are on the front lines of expanding access to finance across Mauritius, Africa, and beyond. We want to ensure new technologies contribute to greater access to finance – integrating those previously not reached due to cost, distance, and other barriers. We want to extend our expertise to ensure these technologies provide new opportunities to retailers to extend their services to new customers, new clients.”