City buses in Taipei and New Taipei City, as well as the Taipei MRT, would begin accepting QR code payments from five electronic payment providers starting this Saturday, the Taipei Department of Transportation said today.
The new option would allow passengers to use the "transportation QR code" feature from EasyWallet, iPASS Money, iCash Pay, JkoPay and PXPay Plus.
Passengers should open their preferred electronic payment app, select the "transportation code," not the regular payment code, unlock it, and then scan the code at ticket readers or gates, Taipei Department of Transportation General Planning Division Director-General Liu Kuo-chu (劉國著) said.
People should move through the gate as soon as the ticket reader indicates a successful scan and the fare deduction is complete, rather than wait for confirmation on their phone app to avoid delaying others, Liu said.
Similar to using stored-value transit cards, passengers must scan the code both when boarding and alighting buses, or entering and exiting stations, and use the same payment method throughout the journey, he said.
Transfer discounts are available only when using EasyWallet, iPASS Money or iCash Pay, he said.
Liu said credit cards and mobile wallets such as Apple Pay, Google Pay and Samsung Pay would not be accepted on buses, but the MRT is planning to accept them in July next year following a six-month trial period.
As for frequent rider benefits, the existing system for stored-value cards such as EasyCard, iPASS and iCash cards remains unchanged, and QR code users would also qualify for the same MRT loyalty rebates, the Taipei Rapid Transit Corp said.
Rebates would be credited to the payment account by the fifth of the following month, but rides paid with different providers or accounts cannot be combined for calculation, it added.
Taipei would continue to encourage and invite other payment providers, such as LINE Pay Money, to join the system, enabling residents to access major public transportation services across the greater Taipei area using just their mobile phone, Liu said.