As part of the initiative, riders can participate in a program meant to encourage more green ways of travel such as public transit.
Once an Alipay user accumulates a certain amount of green energy from using the mobile wallet to pay for subway fares, Alipays partners, such as the Alxa SEE foundation, will plant a real tree in areas suffering from desertification upon the users request.
Alipay is now accepted on public transport in more than 30 Chinese cities, including Hangzhou, Wuhan, Tianjin, Qingdao and Guangzhou. Zhengzhou became the first Chinese city to adopt mobile payments in its subway system in September, followed by Beijing and Shanghai.
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