Moscow Metro Adds Facial Recognition Payment Tool, ‘Face Pay’

With the launch of this new service, all Moscow Metro stations and road networks will use Face Pay for ticket payments. This is a first in that it allows people’s faces instead of their bank cards or coins as they enter one station per journey throughout city limits with Fare card providers.

To enter the Moscow Metro, you need to link your photos and financial card information with Face Pay through the local subway program to be valid. Once connected, simply look at the camera when passing through the turnstile without showing Troika or phone whatsoever – all are digitally verified using facial recognition technology. The Moscow Transport Agency has gone to great lengths to ensure the privacy of its passengers. The data stored within the Metro program is encrypted, and the camera on revolving doors is trained solely for matching bio-keys.

In 2013, Moscow issued a new type of transit card called Troika. So far, locals have purchased more than 36 million units, and 90% use it for public transportation in the city. In the last few months, they opened up users to store value on these cards through an experiment at metro stations known as FACE Pay.

To protect privacy, the authorities are using Face Pay’s biometric key. This means that instead of reading your face or other personal data like name and address they will be checking for you in an automated system with just one scan from a camera on each turnstiles to open access into this new world where everything is secure yet still easy-to-use.

References:

• https://mosmetro.ru/news/detail/?news=802
• https://www.ithome.com.tw/news/147321
• https://www.theverge.com/2021/10/15/22728667/russia-face-pay-system-moscow-metro-privacy
• https://www.mos.ru/news/item/97579073/

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