Starting from December 3, commuters who take the subway lines in Zhengzhou, the capital city of central China’s Henan province, are allowed to pay with facial recognition instead of a plastic card.
Zhengzhou Metro officially announced on Monday that all the subways lines in the city will allow passengers to pay with facial recognition to give them a better, smarter experience.
On September 27 this year, the Zhengzhou Metro Line 1 and the first phase of Line 14 have allowed passengers to do this.
On December 3, the first phase of Line 2, Line 5, and the suburban line phase 1 will also allow passengers to do the same, which means that all the city’s metro lines have supported facial recognition for taking a ride.
Previous reports said that there are nearly 200,000 people have chosen to take the subway by face recognition, and nearly 10,000 people use it daily.
The activation process is as follows:
Download the Zhengzhou Metro * Shang Yi Xing APP. After opening the app, select the payment method, and go to [My]-[Payment Method] page to enable password-free payment method that supports facial recognition.
Zhengzhou is not alone.
The southern Chinese city of Guangzhou has also adopted facial recognition technology since Setember in two of its subway stations, allowing for fast and easy entrance.
Instead of using tickets or swiping their smartphones, passengers can smile at a screen to unlock the electric gates in about half a second after completing a real-name registration on Guangzhou Metro's official mini-program on WeChat, China's popular social media platform, or on the "Guangzhou Metro" mobile app.
The fee will be deducted from the payment methods that subway riders previously register and validate through their mobile phones.
The system has been installed at Guangzhouta station on Line 3 and Tianhezhihuicheng station on Line 21 before being expanded for use across the city in the future.
