Taxis that accept foreign bank cards hit the road in Shanghai on April 12. [Photo by Zhou Wenting/chinadaily.com.cn]

The first 50 taxis that allow individuals, especially expat residents and visitors, to pay with foreign bank cards hit the road in Shanghai on April 12 as one of the city's latest efforts to provide convenience to expats.

Bank cards issued in the home country or region of expats can, from today, be accepted by these cabs for payment if the logos are UnionPay, Visa, Mastercard, Diners Club, JCB or American Express.

Shanghai Dazhong Transportation Group, a major taxi operator in the city that kicked off the improvement with the Bank of China, said that a total of 1,000 taxis with such an optimized payment service are planned to be available in Shanghai by the end of June.

Before the inauguration of the seventh China International Import Expo, which is scheduled to be held in Shanghai in early November and will attract many foreign visitors, such a payment service will be expanded to more than 2,000 taxis. The taxi company operates around 6,000 cabs in the city.

Bank of China and Shanghai Dazhong Transportation Group said that they will continue to upgrade the existing payment machines on more vehicles and relevant business processes, aiming to form a demonstration for other parts of the country.