A passenger pays for a subway ticket via Alipay by scanning the QR code on the Metro Daduhui app at the metro station in Shanghai, on Dec 1, 2018. [Photo/IC] 

Passengers in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province can now pop on the metro trains to the neighboring city of Ningbo by scanning their QR codes on the Hangzhou dedicated metroapp, Hangzhou Metro Group announced on March 28. 

Last December, an interconnected metro service was launched in the Yangtze River Delta (YDR) region, allowing passengers in Ningbo and Hangzhou to use the two cities' metro apps to embark on metro trains in the neighboring city of Shanghai and vice versa, a fresh step towards deepened integration of the YDR region.

The interconnected metro service between Hangzhou and Ningbo, which starts on March 30, now further paves the way for the tri-city metro interconnection in YRD region.

It will greatly facilitate personnel exchanges between the three cities and provide convenience for tourists from Shanghai and Hangzhou, according to Ningbo Rail Transit.

By the end of March, around 202,000 people in three cities have benefited from the service, among whom 75,000 metro riders boarded on trains between Shanghai and Ningbo.

While the metro mobile payment has been increasingly available in more and more cities in YRD regions, a combined nine cities, including Hefei, capital city of Anhui province, Wuxi, Suzhou and Nanjing in Jiangsu province and Zhejiang province's Wenzhou are expected to join the club by the end of this year.