Buses and subways to become new battlefield for mobile payments
UnionPay announces latest cooperation, this time with Apple Pay for travelling on the Guangzhou underground system
China UnionPay, the country’s dominant bank card clearing service, has announced a tie up with Apple Pay for customers using subway trains in the southern city of Guangzhou.
Commuters with UnionPay cards can now pay for their ride with their iPhone or Apple Watch at more than 6,000 subway gates at all stations in the city.
Shanghai-based UnionPay said the arrangement is part of its push to create a nationwide “smart” public transport system.
Payments will be possible using technology called offline data authentication (ODA), and can be completed regardless of an internet connection, UnionPay said.
The Chinese company said last Friday it has already seen 300,000 “quick pass” payments using ODA-enabled UnionPay cards on 382 buses in the first 20 days of a trial in the city of Longyan, in Fujian province.
UnionPay estimates 90 billion individual trips are made using Chinese buses and subways annually.