China T-union

China T-Union, also known as TU , is a contactless transport card widely used in China. Cardholders can pay for public transport fares in any covered service in China, but card reloading is limited to the locale of initial issuance or through the card issuer’s mobile application, where available.

The Ministry of Transport approved the development of the card and pilot projects in 2012. In 2015 the card was launched in Zhenjiang. In 2016, 110 cities supported the card and the following year this number was raised to 165.

By Dec 2023, 336 cities in China supported the card, and all urban rail transport systems in mainland China support T-Union cards except in Hohhot.

On 26 March 2024, the China T-Union system marked its first expansion beyond mainland China in Hong Kong, with the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge Shuttle Bus service beginning to accept China T-Union cards at select ticket vending machines in its Hong Kong Port.

The China T-Union organization itself does not directly issue cards; instead, local authorities handle card issuance. Hence, the design of the card varies by issuing region.

In 2018, the Hungarian government invited CTTIC to discuss potential implementation of the system in Hungarian public transport.

Transport services covered
As of December 2023, the card can be used in 336 cities in China as following: