Han Ximin

ximhan@126.com

SHENZHEN Metro Group will develop further cooperation with Internet giant Tencent in smart commuting, mobile payment, big data and IoT, according to a strategic agreement signed yesterday.

The two sides will promote the application of technologies, such as in-station navigation and facial recognition in different scenarios, to improve the service value of the smart transport industry.

New technologies have widely been adopted for Shenzhen Metro’s services.

One year since the introduction of QR-code payment in May 2018, the number of registered users has reached 17.38 million. The number of daily users has reached 1.53 million, 12 times more than the figure when it was introduced.

During the May Day holiday, the number of daily uses reached 1.99 million.

QR-code users have also been able to get electronic receipts through the Shenzhen Metro QR-code miniapp since March. The receipts can be sent directly to the app user’s electronic WeChat Wallet.

The blockchain-based e-receipt program, jointly launched by the Shenzhen tax authority and Tencent, also covers other sectors in the city’s public transport system, including taxis and airport shuttles.

This April, the company piloted an intelligent system that can indicate the severity of compartment congestion on Metro trains at Airport Station on Metro Line 11.

With two LCD screens installed on the platform that rate the congestion severity with colors and a number of cartoon figures, Metro riders can see which compartments in the arriving train have the least passengers.

The system, which is one of the projects by Intelligent Metro, automatically collects real-time data about a train’s location, weight and passenger load in each of its compartments. It can guide passengers to choose the compartments with the least number of passengers, further improving the safe operation of Metro trains.