Moscow’s MCD-4 commuter rail line has rolled out biometric fare payment, allowing passengers to tap through turnstiles using just their face. Registered users of the ”Metro Moscow” app no longer need a card or phone to enter-simply looking at a camera is enough.
According to Moscow’s city government, the Face Pay system is now live at 122 turnstile lanes across 35 MCD-4 stations. In each row of turnstiles, one entry and one exit gate have been fitted with the technology and marked with stickers. Where turnstiles don’t support Face Pay, travelers still need a linked bank card registered with the biometric system to validate their ride.
Maxim Liksutov, Moscow’s Deputy Mayor for Transport, said the biometric payment option will expand to MCD-2 by the end of July 2024, and then to MCD-3 by the end of 2026. The Face Pay system already operates across the entire Moscow Metro network, the Moscow Central Circle, Aeroexpress trains, river routes, and MCD-1. About 900,000 users are registered, making over 200,000 daily biometric entries on weekdays.
Launched in 2021, Moscow’s Face Pay is one of Europe’s largest biometric transport payment initiatives. With commuter rail ridership topping 370 million rides in 2025 alone, the push to broaden facial recognition payments on the city’s sprawling MCD network makes practical sense. For comparison, similar biometric fare payments have been slower to roll out in Western transit systems, highlighting Moscow’s ambition to lead in this technology.
As the city continues expanding Face Pay to connect more lines, watch whether biometric ticketing becomes the new standard for mass transit in major global cities or remains a regional curiosity. Its success may hinge on privacy, convenience, and how quickly passengers adopt the frictionless access.