Tobu Railway said Tuesday that it will expand its payments and identity verification service utilizing biometric identification technology such as finger vein recognition.
In cooperation with Hitachi, Tobu Railway aims to introduce the service at more than 100 outlets, such as supermarkets, consumer electronics stores, hotels and convenience stores, by the end of fiscal 2026, hoping to spread it in a wide range of industries.
The biometric identification service was introduced in April to self-checkout machines at some outlets of Tobu Store, the railway operator's supermarket arm.
The service allows customers to make payments and receive loyalty points without having to present a credit card. It reduces the time spent at the cash register to some 25 seconds, half the usual time.
Tobu Railway plans to link the service to facial recognition to check train tickets as early as fiscal 2025, which begins next April.
"We want to increase the number of places where the service is available to improve customer convenience," Tobu Railway executive Ryuhei Maeda told a news conference.
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