Moscow Aims to Deploy Face Pay at All Metro Turnstiles by End of Year

Moscow is aiming to equip all metro turnstiles with facial recognition technology by the end of 2025, expanding its Face Pay system across the entire subway network. According to the city’s Department of Transport, the rollout will allow passengers to pass through turnstiles using facial scans instead of tickets, cards, or phones.

Face Pay to Replace Physical Tickets

The Face Pay system, which debuted in October 2021, enables passengers to link a selfie, bank card, and Troika transit card via the Metro app. At the gate, cameras convert a live image into an encrypted biometric vector and match it with backend data to authorize access. Over 100 million rides had been completed via Face Pay as of April 2024, with about 1,500 turnstiles already online and more coming into service station by station.

This city-wide deployment is part of a broader federal strategy. Russia’s state-run Biometric Technologies Center (TsBT) plans to expand the facial recognition fare system to subway systems nationwide by 2025. Moscow’s rollout is supported by its existing smart city surveillance infrastructure, which includes more than 200,000 cameras, many already outfitted with facial recognition capabilities as part of the Safe City platform. The platform integrates live feeds from transport systems, traffic management, and over 160 municipal data sets to coordinate emergency response and manage crowds.

Efficiency Gains and Privacy Concerns

Officials claim the system improves passenger convenience, reduces boarding times, and boosts security. Deputy Mayor Maksim Liksutov has also emphasized that the system meets “bank-level” security standards and can aid in faster emergency response by linking transportation data with law enforcement and medical services.

Despite these promises, civil liberties advocates have raised concerns about surveillance overreach. Rights groups such as Roskomsvoboda and Human Rights Watch have documented cases where facial recognition has been used to track protestors and flag individuals for arrest, often without clear judicial oversight. Critics also point to Russia’s 2022 Unified Biometric System Law, which centralizes biometric data storage and permits state-security exemptions, further heightening privacy risks.

Similar Face Pay systems have already been implemented in other Russian cities. Kazan launched biometric fare gates in 2024, followed by one metro line in Nizhny Novgorod. Plans for deployment in Yekaterinburg and Samara are also underway. Moscow’s full integration would bring the largest metro system in the country under a unified biometric framework, potentially setting a national precedent for how digital identity is used in public transportation.

Sources: The Bulrushes, PatentPC

–

By the ID Tech Editorial Team