Passengers using Hong Kong’s Mass Transit Railway (MTR) will soon be able to travel on the system’s heavy rail network by generating a single-use QR code ticket on their mobile phone that they can scan at station turnstiles.

“Passengers can travel on the MTR with [a] QR code simply by binding AlipayHK to MTR Mobile and using ‘My Ticket’ on the MTR app, or using ‘EasyGo’ on AlipayHK,” MTR explains.

“There will be at least two entry/exit gates accepting QR code payment at every array of gate at all 93 heavy rail stations (except Airport Express stations) and they will be wrapped with prominent purple stickers.”

Passengers will be charged for their fares through their AlipayHK mobile wallet and receive notifications of fare transactions once they have passed through the station exit gates.

The service will launch on 23 January and those travelling on MTR train services with a QR code ticket before 31 March will receive a 20% rebate on their fares.

The QR code fare payment service has been developed in partnership with AlipayHK and will support AlipayHK only during its first 12 months of operation.

The system, however, “is compatible with e-wallets of other service providers which can provide QR code payment service for passengers to travel on the MTR in future,” MTR says.

MTR announced plans to introduce a QR-based ticketing system in June 2018.

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