China: Forget about your subway ticket, commute with your phone instead

No more waiting in line at the ticket counter, or digging through your purse to find your subway ticket.

Residents in Beijing can now swipe their mobile phones at the gates before boarding the subways, said the Beijing Municipal Administration and Communication Card Co. Ltd. (BMAC), after a trial on the Fangshan Line in June.

Commuters can download an app which stores their electronic subway card, and they can recharge online instead of traditionally queuing at a ticket counter.

A total of 160 models of mobile phones with an NFC (near field communication) chip support this service.

A notable exception is iPhone, as its maker Apple continues to lock the NFC feature in public transportation field in China.

A traditional card for the Beijing subway.

Some mobile phone manufactures, like Xiaomi, Huawei, Meizu and Samsung, have produced NFC-enabled phones, and its users can directly download the brand-appointed app and open their account online.

However, some mobile brands require users to change their SIM card to enable payment.

From the trial, 200,000 mobile commute payments are made daily, accounting for two percent of the day's total payments, according to the BMAC.

Beijing Subway Map.

To help passengers to better understand this new method, instruction manuals are available at all 274 stations in Beijing.

This cashless scheme puts China's "smartest" city on the map once again, and is a step for Beijing to ease its transportation pressure.

(CGTN)