Expats now able to swipe smartphones to board the Metro

Expats and residents from Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan can now scan their smartphones to enter Metro stations via app Metro Daduhui as it was upgraded on April 4.

Once the app is upgraded to the latest version, passengers with a foreign passport can match their Alipay authentication with Metro Daduhui to unlock the feature in the app.

When passing the turnstiles, passengers can first open the app and tap “chengche” (board a train). Bluetooth must be switched on to activate the QR scanning function. Meanwhile, mobile or WiFi access is needed so that the app can generate a QR code. After that, Internet is no longer needed. It is better to open the app ahead to save some time at the turnstiles.

The other payment method, Union Pay, still supports Chinese passengers only.

The Metro operators have been upgrading turnstiles throughout the city as well to cater to the app users. It is estimated that by the end of this year, all turnstiles in Shanghai will support the QR scanning payment.