An electronic purse is a card that stores value and can be used to pay for travel or other small-scale transactions in a similar way to cash. The secure information stored in a dedicated area or file on the smart-card is the electronic “purse.” The two main objectives of electronic purse cards are to replace cash in the public transportation payment system, either to transition away from a primarily cash-based system or as a replacement for residual cash payments in a mostly pre-paid system.