UniTTEC's biological recognition gate is on display. [Photo/zjol.com.cn]

Hangzhou-based rail transit solution supplier UniTTEC is supporting the city-metropolitan area-urban agglomeration in the Yangtze River Delta (YRD), local media reported on May 26.

In addition to offering signal system solutions, the company boasts an independently-developed automatic fare collection (AFC) system which is now serving residents and travelers in YRD cities such as Hangzhou, Nanjing, Ningbo, and Suzhou.

UniTTEC's AFC system was first adopted by Nanjing Metro Line 1 in 2007 and now ranks among the top three systems in the domestic market in terms of market share.

"We first entered the market in Nanjing. We introduced high-end talent and accumulated experience and then gradually entered the markets in Suzhou, Hangzhou, Ningbo, Chengdu, and Wuhan," according to Wu Haifeng, general manager at the AFC Department of UniTTEC.

Currently, operational metro lines in Hangzhou are using the company's AFC system. All of them support mobile payment and will be installed with new technologies such as biological recognition.

The new application is expected to debut in the company's Hangzhou-Shaoxing rail project. By then, passengers will be able to enter metro stations without their mobile phones.

The rapid development of city-metropolitan area-urban agglomeration is connecting metro systems in different cities, which will pose more challenges to rail transit solution suppliers, but UniTTEC is confident that it can make the best of the opportunity.