Now, average time spent in lines amounts to 1.5 minutes compared to 5 minutes in 2010. The main reason is growing popularity of contactless and remote payments.

Moscow is the global leader in the number of fare payment modes. We are constantly working on improving the ticketing system, updating equipment, launching new services in Moscow Metro mobile app‎. As a result, the number of contactless and remote fare payments has increased. In 2021, the share of non-cash purchases at metro ticket offices was already 50%. For comparison, in the pre-pandemic 2019, only 35% of purchases at the checkout were cashless. By the end of the year, we will launch additional contactless payment methods for travel — the virtual Troika card and Face Pay, — Deputy Mayor of Moscow for Transport Maxim Liksutov.

Moscow’s Department of Transport also outlines that the face recognition system launched in Metro will improve the assessment of crowdedness in trains. The authority adds that the system already contributes to finding lost persons and wanted criminals, and, by the end of 2021, Moscow Metro will launch the Face Pay service for passengers.

In order to improve the system, a rating of algorithm quality was introduced. As for now, three such algorithms are used for biometric identification: VisionLabs, Ntechlab and Tevian, all of them Russian-made. According to the results of the second quarter of 2021, VisionLabs showed the best quality, followed by Tevian.