Guizhou spearheads mobile payment in west China

GUIYANG,China,May 16,2019 -- As of December 2018,13 highway toll stations of Guizhou had adopted WeChat payment and about 2,000 of 3,738 highway lanes in Guizhou had installed QR code scanning equipment. "It saves me a lot of time to pay via WeChat without bothering to ask for change when I drive through Guiyang North Toll Station," said a driver surnamed Su in an interview with Huanqiu.com,an official media partner of the 2019 China International Big Data Industry Expo 2019.

A driver is paying highway tolls using the Wechat payment service in Guiyang West Toll Station on January 1,2019.

However,it has been disclosed by Guizhou Provincial Transportation Department that from the beginning of 2019,WeChat payment will be available at all 441 toll stations on highways in Guizhou. It will only take five seconds to pay via a QR code and pass through the toll station.

In the future,mainstream modes of payment such as Alipay and China UnionPay's QuickPass will also be included in the payment system of these toll stations,together with a local mobile payment app.

Besides,by integrating mobile payment into the electronic toll collection (ETC) system,contactless payment will be fully realized in the highway toll stations of Guizhou in the near future,enabling people to pay and pass through the toll gates without stopping their cars.

Apart fromdrivers,mobile payment has also brought convenience to thelocal administration. A worker at a local toll station told Huanqiu.com that mobile payments havehelped them reduce bothlabor and administrative costs,while saving them from the risk of receiving counterfeit banknotes.

At the same time,mobile paymentshave significantly improved the efficiency of traffic flow in Guizhou,with 10 to 15 seconds reduced during each mobile transaction. It has also been an environmentally-friendly practice for Guizhou to adopt mobile payment methods in highway toll stations,as an average of 0.002 litre of fuel can be saved for each car waiting in line.

Photo - https://photos.prnasia.com/prnh/20190514/2466087-1