Tolls link plates, mobile payment

[Photo: from VCG]

Fumbling for cash or a smartphone to pay highway tolls in China may soon be a thing of the past.

Highway authorities are cooperating with payment platforms WeChat and Alipay with a new electronic toll collection service that enables drivers to link their accounts to license plate numbers.

The system can scan license plates at specially-marked tolls and automatically deducts toll fees from drivers' accounts.

Authorities are currently piloting the system using Alipay on expressways in Henan Province and WeChat in Shandong Province, with plans to go nationwide.

However in the future, the service would only be open to users with a score of 550 and above in China's proposed Social Credit System, which is planned to be implemented in 2020.

[The audio clip is from Studio+, produced by CRI] 

(News source: Xinhua)