Abstract: A card reading apparatus having a hopper in which cards bearing digital information such as punched cards or marked cards are accommodated, a card drive unit for feeding the cards from the hopper and a reading station for reading the information recorded on the cards is disclosed. The hopper is provided with a first switch for detecting the presence or absence of the card and a second switch for detecting the presence or absence of a card weight. Different instructions are given to the card drive unit in accordance with the transition of the status of the first and second switches to feed the cards in the hopper to the reading station in different modes.