WeChat payment available for buses in Shanghai

Shanghai residents can now use a WeChat mini app to pay bus fares in Shanghai. The new payment system can be used on 2,000 buses in the city, and will be available on all buses by the end of October.

Shanghai residents use a WeChat mini app to pay their bus fare. [Photo: thepaper.cn]

Many cities have experimented with mobile payments for public transport. Henan's capital Zhengzhou became the first city in China to adopt mobile payments on its subway system in September 2017.

Since April, subway passengers in Beijing have been able to download an app called RuubyPay that generates a QR code ticket read by scanners at subway station turnstiles.

And in Xi'an, subway passengers have been able to use a QR code generated by mobile payment app Alipay to access subway stations across the city.