In last week’s fun poll, I asked whether you’d used an electronic fare card on another system before.

And after 164 votes, it turns out 76% of you have used an electronic fare card before! The remaining 24% hadn’t tried one out yet.

In the comments, Paul C and Andrew S were among the few who said they hadn’t used an electronic fare card elsewhere. But mostly, people talked about exactly what cards they had tried—lots had given Seattle’s ORCA a whirl, as well as Hong Kong’s Octopus card and London’s Oyster. And there were of course others! Here’s TK:

I’ve used Seattle’s Orca, Singapore’s EZ-Link, Bangkok skytrain/subway cards and Hong Kong’s Octopus. My favourite is the Octopus as I can use it to pay at McDonald’s and 7-11.

And Rob from CMBC had tried some South American cards!

I have used the Bip (pronounced beep) card for Santiago, Chile’s metro. I’ve also used one on the Valparaiso – Vina Del Mar metro, but, unfortunately, cannot remember its name.

A couple of comments even highlighted some of the little-known advantages of electronic farecards. Ryan pointed out that when travelling, you could use the balance on your electronic fare card again on subsequent trips.

Yes, I use my Oyster card when I travel to London. I’ve had it for a few years now and since I go back at least once a year, it is very handy to get around.

And ericmk‘s experience showed you didn’t even need to buy an electronic fare card necessarily, if you were just visiting.

I’ve used four- Washington DC’s SmarTrip, Seattle’s ORCA, Maryland’s CharmCard, and recently Toronto/Ottawa’s PRESTO card. However, I’ve only actually owned a SmarTrip and an ORCA card. The others I’ve borrowed from friends!

Thanks to everyone who took the poll! As always, check out the full list of comments to see what everyone thought. I’ll have a new question next week!