Dozens more face biometrics turnstiles for Moscow transit, backed by tepid survey

Moscow is expanding its Face Pay biometric public transportation program because it is very popular, according to a city official.

Financial news publisher Finextra apparently has picked up some marketing material from Moscow’s publicly held Metro system including survey results that reportedly indicate enthusiastic support of the Face Pay face biometrics system.

“Innovativeness” was second only to “no need to carry a bank card” when people were asked for Face Pay’s key benefits. Among its disadvantages is that there just are not enough turnstiles that scan faces for payment.

So, 200 more turnstiles are being added, according to the article, and the contactless payment option is moving to other lines and transportation systems.

This fall, the MCC line, which circles Moscow, will be fitted for the cameras, followed by river transportation stations by year end. Plans are underway as well to put Face Pay on Aeroexpress, which is the rail connection between railway terminals and airports.

Maksim Liksutov, deputy mayor for transportation, is attributed saying that Face Pay is secure. Payments in the system reportedly are handled only by “a Russian bank.” And data protection matches security protocols required by “the global payment card industry.”

Legislation was recently approved in Russia to enable the government to compel banks to hand over customers’ biometric data.

Face Pay was launched last fall at 240 stations.

Today, according to the article, 88 percent of survey respondents prefer the biometric system more than other payment systems.

Forty-four percent like that they need no bank card to ride and 42 percent like the system’s innovativeness. Time savings and transaction speed were cited as attractive benefits by 38 percent and 37 percent, respectively.

Article Topics

biometric payments  |  biometrics  |  consumer adoption  |  contactless biometrics  |  facial recognition  |  Russia  |  transportation