Beijing Metro

2023: Launch of fare payment with a wave of your hand

On May 22, 2023, the Chinese corporation Tencent Holdings announced the launch of a new biometric fare payment technology in the Beijing metro. To do this, passengers just need to scan their palm on the turnstile.

The system operates on the basis of the WeChat Pay payment platform, which is called Weixin Pay in the Chinese market. For registration, it is necessary to remove the fingerprints of the palms in a special machine at the subway station. Then passengers will be able to pay for trips with a simple wave of their hands on the turnstiles with a touch pad indicated by a green circle.

To pay, you need to scan your palm on the turnstile

The palm recognition service operates on the express line of Daxing Airport - the international air harbor in the capital of China. After recognizing the unique palm print, automatic payment for metro travel through the WeChat user account is launched. According to Tencent, the technology provides high reliability, since to identify the passenger, the hand is scanned both on the surface and at the vein level. The system was developed by the YouTu artificial intelligence laboratory.

The applied solution is expected to be convenient primarily for the elderly and people with limited mobility. Tencent also said it was gradually rolling out payments through palm scans in other areas, including offices, campuses, retail outlets and restaurants. However, the new payment method has sparked heated discussions on social networks, as many users increasingly care about their privacy. Theft of biometric data is common in China, and facial recognition payments have been available for years. On the other hand, paying with a wave of the hand will be useful in cases where, for example, a person forgot to take a smartphone with him or the device ran out of battery.^[1]

2018: Beijing metro entrance by fingerprint

In June 2018, it became known about the plans of the Beijing authorities to introduce biometric technologies in the metro to accelerate passenger traffic during peak hours.

According to the China Daily newspaper, citing Zhang Huabing, head of the business development department of the Beijing Metro, human recognition systems by faces and fingerprints will be launched in the subway by the end of 2018.

Facial recognition scanners are supposed to allow the movement of passengers to be tracked using cameras that identify people when entering the station. Thus, it will be possible to bypass traditional plentiful treatment, reducing the time that passengers are forced to spend at the entrance, delaying traffic. According to representatives of the subway, this technology is quite mature and can be widely used in the metro system.

Chinese metro will speed up payments using biometrics

By placing your fingers on special scanners, metro visitors will be able to quickly pass through the turnstiles. The system connected to the database allows you to find out if the passenger is wanted. At the same time, the management of the Moscow subway admits that payment for travel in the conditions of operation of advanced biometric systems remains a problem.

Fingerprint sensors were previously introduced in the subway in Shanghai. This contributed to lower costs for the maintenance of metro employees and increased safety.

By June 2018, Beijing has 22 S-Bahn lines with a total length of 608 km, and the number of people who take the subway daily on weekdays on average exceeds 10 million. In 2016, the number of trips to the Beijing metro amounted to 3 billion, which is 6.8% more than a year earlier. Due to the heavy load at some stations, measures were taken to restrict access to the metro during peak hours.^[2]

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