Buy Chongqing metro tickets at the staffed window
Go to the staffed ticket window and buy a physical ticket with your foreign bank card or RMB cash. Do not keep tapping the bank card at the gate, and do not spend the journey trying to fund an app balance. Card payment at the ticket window and direct bank-card entry at a gate are different services.
Foreign credit card will not open the gate
Chongqing’s August 2024 rollout announcement describes foreign-card purchases of single-journey and day tickets at staffed operating windows, listing UnionPay, Visa, Mastercard, JCB and American Express. That announcement is evidence for the window route, not proof that every new 2026 station or individual card will work, and not a promise of direct bank-card gate access.
- Find the staffed ticket/service window (人工售票窗口 / 客服中心). Show your destination station in Chinese or on the map and ask for a physical single-journey ticket.
- Present the physical foreign bank card to staff for the ticket payment. Use the ticket they issue to enter and exit; ask which reader/slot to use and retain the ticket until you have left the destination station.
- If that card is declined, try one independent card or use RMB cash. If the station has a payment outage, ask staff for the available cash-ticket arrangement rather than retrying the gate.
The machine greys out your Alipay or WeChat linked card
Leave the machine and use the staffed-window card or cash route. It does not depend on topping up a Chinese wallet balance or acquiring a Chinese bank account. A wallet that pays for shopping does not establish that the transit machine or mini-program accepts the same linked foreign card.
Choose a single ticket or ask for a physical day ticket
For one immediate journey, buy a single ticket. If you expect several rides, show staff the travel dates and routes and ask which physical pass applies before paying. The January 2025 official day-ticket notice describes physical-ticket sales at network booths excluding the Bitong line and says its five-day physical ticket uses cash/POS purchase. Do not assume a pass covers the Bitong line or that a station has every product in stock; confirm coverage, activation and validity at the window.
Show this at the window
我要去[目的站]。我没有中国手机号或中国银行账户。请帮我买一张实体单程票。这里可以刷境外发行的 Visa / Mastercard / JCB / American Express 银行卡吗？如果刷卡失败，可以用人民币现金吗？请告诉我进站和出站怎么用这张票。
I need a physical single ticket to [station]. I do not have a Chinese mobile number or bank account. Can I pay here with my foreign bank card? If it fails, can I pay with RMB cash? Please show me how to use the ticket for entry and exit.
For a pass, add: 我计划在[日期]乘坐[线路／行程]。可以买哪种实体日票？有效期从什么时候开始？这些线路都能用吗？ — I plan these dates/routes; which physical day ticket covers them, and when does its validity start?
If the window route also fails
Ask the staff to identify the nearest available staffed cash-ticket option within the station before leaving it. If no usable ticket can be sold and the journey is urgent, use another transport option with a payment method you already know works. Keep a second card and some RMB for this possibility; the website cannot fix an issuer decline or promise live station equipment availability.
Official ticket-window and day-ticket notices were reopened on 7 September 2026. Their rollout dates remain August 2024 and January 2025; no new station total, bank-card gate rollout, live card transaction or station visit is claimed.