In the metro of St. Petersburg in test mode launched payment for biometrics

2024: Biometrics fare testing

VTB and the St. Petersburg Metro began testing the payment of travel on biometrics at the Gostiny Dvor and Ploshchad Vosstaniya stations. This system will facilitate the payment process for passengers - it will be enough just to look at the camera on the turnstile. The service is tested by a focus group of VTB and metro employees, in the future it is planned to test with the participation of passengers. VisionLabs (VisionLabs) announced this on December 16, 2024.

Passage through biometrics is possible thanks to to algorithms computer vision VisionLabs and VTB's payment infrastructure. To connect the service, it is enough to confirm to bank consent to the processing of biometric and data link a bank card for payment in this way through a specially designed portal.

VTB is actively involved in testing biometric payment methods and their implementation at key transport facilities in the country. The main advantage of this system will be the convenience of passengers - to pass through the turnstile, it will be enough to look at the terminal. The contactless identification technology and the VTB payment data storage system will ensure the speed and security of payments. The bank is ready to participate in the further implementation of the project and scale the service in the St. Petersburg metro in 2025, - said Igor Ostreiko, head of VTB's transactional business department.

We highly appreciate the possibility of expanding cooperation on the projects of the transport complex of St. Petersburg and plan to apply the experience of the VTB team to provide the infrastructure of the St. Petersburg metro with fare payment services, which, we hope, will be positively assessed by passengers, - said Nikolai Ustinov, head of the Transport and Infrastructure Construction Directorate of VTB Bank.

The technology is secure - the VisionLabs face recognition system converts images into encrypted biometric descriptors, from which it is impossible to obtain the original passenger photo. The technology also checks that there is a living person in front of the camera. This protects against forgery attempts with printed masks, images or videos from the phone screen. Similar technologies are used in Moscow transport with the support of VTB. The service operates at all metro and MCC stations, in Aeroexpress, on regular river transport, as well as at several MCD stations. Since the launch of the service, passengers have made over 129 million trips paid for using biometrics. On weekdays, the number of passages in Moscow transport using this method of payment reaches 160 thousand.

Integrating VisionLabs technology into transportation systems is an example of how innovation is changing our daily lives. Biometric identification makes payment as simple and intuitive as possible, and due to the high accuracy and reliability of our algorithms, security remains in the first place. We see great potential in this project and hope that successful testing will become the basis for its further development, in which we are ready to take an active part, "said Dmitry Markov, CEO of VisionLabs.