The innovation of Chinese companies astounds me.
Or perhaps they’re just a product of these ever-changing times. The world is trending in a direction where smartphones are replacing a whole bunch of other devices (cameras, watches, television, and now recently wallets!) so, as a shrewd CEO of a large Chinese company, wouldn’t you just try to make everything in people’s daily lives accessible with a smartphone, including public transportation?
Tencent, that giant multinational conglomerate behind the social networking apps QQ and WeChat, is putting the “smart” in smartphone by working with major cities around China to set up its smartphone-based public transportation infrastructure, where getting on the bus or subway is as simple as presenting your QR code to a scanner and walking on. Recently, in the southern metropolis of Shenzhen, China, metro stations have been outfitted with new fare gates to make the lives of thousands of commuters so much easier.
Hey, I live in Shenzhen! How do I get in on this action?
It’s easy! Just follow these simple steps:
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Get WeChat.
Download WeChat from the app store and set up an account. Make sure you link your bank card to your account as well so you take full advantage of WeChat’s myriad online services.
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Go to the Discover menu on WeChat and tap Mini Programs.
Mini Programs is where you’ll find games, WeChat services, or services from companies who have partnered with WeChat. In the search bar, you’ll want to type in 腾讯乘车码 (pinyin is teng xun cheng che ma, or if you’re reading this on your phone feel free to copy/paste). Look for the teal (or is it turquoise??) logo that kind of looks like a “V”.
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Select Shenzhen (深圳).
If you have enabled location services for the mini program, it may have already selected Shenzhen for you automatically. If for some reason it didn’t, make sure to select 深圳 from the cities list.
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Agree to some terms and conditions.
After selecting Shenzhen, you will be asked to agree to some terms and conditions. Tap the checkbox and then hit the green button at the bottom. It will take you to a page where you can choose which payment method (扣费方式) will be used first when using this program (essentially, when you have no more money in your first option, it will automatically pay using your second option). The default is the money in your WeChat wallet, or you can opt to use the bank card you linked to WeChat.
When you’ve made a choice, hit that green button at the bottom.
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Enter your WeChat payment password to complete the process.
And that’s all there is to it! Now, whenever you want to take the metro or bus with your smartphone, pull down on your screen on the “Chats” page and look for the turquoise “V” logo. Open it up and it’ll take you right to your very own QR code you can use to scan at marked fare gates or when getting on the bus. Make sure the city is correct by checking the top-left corner of the QR code screen. When you want to exit a station, find another marked fare gate and scan to exit.
The great thing about riding the metro or bus with WeChat is that it eliminates the need to buy a metro card as well as the need to buy tokens for every trip. You also don’t need to worry about recharging your metro card all the time or stress about forgetting your metro card at home (just make sure your phone doesn’t run out of juice!)
There are some disadvantages, one being that it costs slightly more than if you were to use a metro card (but the same as if you were to buy a trip token). However, the mini program occasionally gives out random discounts for certain days or certain weeks where it is actually slightly cheaper to use your smartphone instead of your metro card. I recently experienced a whole week where all my trips by smartphone were discounted. Give it a try. Happy travels!