A bus operating in Ningbo, East China's Zhejiang province. [Photo/WeChat account: nbfb0574]

The Ningbo Municipal Bureau of Transportation recently announced that transportation codes, which serve as a digital version of transportation cards, can now be mutually recognized in Ningbo, Zhejiang province and Shanghai municipality.

This groundbreaking development allows residents of Ningbo to conveniently utilize their local transportation codes when traveling on public buses and ferries in Shanghai, eliminating the need to switch to a different app or apply for a local transportation code.

Similarly, residents of Shanghai can now scan their transportation codes to travel on all public buses in Ningbo.

However, it is important to note that while the convenience of using transportation codes across cities is now a reality, certain benefits such as discounted fares and preferential transfers will not apply when scanning the codes in a different city.

This milestone marks the first official trial of interconnectivity between independent cities in China using the Ministry of Transport's QR code system. The trial sets an important precedent for the standardization of the ministry's QR code interconnectivity and lays a solid foundation for the widespread adoption of the QR code system on public buses and subways.