There’s nothing worse than sprinting for the bus, managing to persuade the driver to let you on, and then realising that you’ve forgotten your Leap Card. Usually in these situations, you’ll also have max 50 cent in your purse.
A man in Sydney had the genius (and slightly horrific) idea of implanting the chip from his travel card underneath his skin.
The man, Meow-Ludo Disco Gamma Meow-Meow (his legal name!), describes himself as a bio-hacker and because of his little implantation, can now travel by tapping his hand on the ticket gate.
Speaking to ABC Australia, Meow-Meow said: “It gives me an ability that not everyone else has, so if someone stole my wallet I could still get home. My goal is to have frictionless interaction with technology.”
The Opal Card chip was encased in a plastic which is safe for the body and then inserted into his arm by a piercings specialist. The procedure took about an hour to complete.
Opal, the Australian version of the Leap Card, has banned Meow-Meow’s idea, but he hasn’t managed to be stopped by ticket inspectors.
Meow-Meow has warned people not to try this implant at home: “Be aware of the risks involved and make a wise judgement based on that.”
Imagine if Leap Card implants became commonplace in the future…we’d all be one step closer to being robots!
