BEIJING -- Beijing becomes the first city on the Chinese mainland supporting contactless fare payments in rail transit for foreign MasterCard and Visa card holders.

Starting Friday, international visitors can use MasterCard and Visa cards issued overseas to take rides on the city's entire rail transit network, and pay automatically according to the same billing rules as the local residents.

Beijing has upgraded more than 20,000 sets of facilities at subway stations of its rail transit system to facilitate the new payment initiative, which supplements current payment methods such as UnionPay cards and QR codes, to further improve the experience of international visitors for rail transit, the Beijing Municipal Commission of Transport announced at the ongoing 2024 China International Fair for Trade in Services.

The service is comprehensively available at all gates across 490 stations along 27 subway lines (including two airport lines, Xijiao Line and Yizhuang T1 Line), covering a total length of 836 km. Additionally, the Suburban Railway Line S2 is also part of this scheme.