How do you pay for the Shanghai metro, and can a foreign visitor use a phone to get through the gates?

Shanghai metro fares are distance-based, and several payment routes work: phone, cash or bank card. Fare amounts are omitted deliberately, since they change; trust the station fare table and the day’s notices.

Scanning in with a phone

Alipay and WeChat Pay both issue a Shanghai metro ride code: in Alipay, open the Travel section and set the city to Shanghai, or use the Shanghai Metro ride-code service in WeChat, then scan in and out. The operator’s Metro Daduhui app supports both channels too, and its WeChat Pay channel carries an “International Cards” option for Mastercard and Diners Club holders. The prerequisite is real-name verification with your passport plus a bound foreign card, as our payments guide explains, best done before you fly. Entry and exit must use the same code on the same account. If it will not scan, brighten the screen, check it has not expired, and never follow someone through the gate.

Single-journey tickets: machines and cash

Vending machines sell single-journey tickets priced by distance; the ticket is valid that day, is collected by the exit gate, and allows no out-of-station transfer. Cash at the machine is the simplest route. Official guidance says every station’s customer service centre has a bank-card terminal taking domestic UnionPay and overseas Visa, Mastercard, Discover, American Express, Diners Club and JCB cards. Whether the machines themselves accept a foreign card we could not confirm, so carry cash or buy at the service centre.

Transit cards, passes and tapping a bank card

The Shanghai Public Transportation Card is stored-value, issued at station service centres and also available as a virtual card on a phone or watch. One-day and three-day passes generally exclude the maglev and the suburban railways opened from 2024. A bank card can open the gates directly, with conditions: since late June 2025 Shanghai Metro has extended tap-to-ride across the network, so eligible contactless UnionPay, Visa, Mastercard, American Express and JCB cards work at any gate if small-amount password-free payment is on and the card has enough balance or credit. Type-B chips and cards without ODA support do not.

When a gate rejects you, and the practical details

The usual causes are insufficient balance or credit, an expired QR code, or password-free payment not enabled, rather than the card network. In order: try another gate, switch method, then take the card or phone to the station service centre.

Entrances have bag-screening machines, slow with large luggage; avoid the peaks. Stations often have several numbered exits that do not match compass directions, so read the street names on the concourse map and note your exit number; some close at night. The metro starts early and stops before midnight; first and last trains differ by line and station, last trains are often earlier than people expect, and the station timetable and the day’s notices are the authority. Do not gamble on the last train for a flight or a late return.

What we could not confirm: whether the vending machines accept foreign cards, the transport card’s deposit and top-up arrangements, any fare amount, and whether each card network works consistently at every gate. Check in the app and with your card issuer before you travel.