Transit cards make taking the bus and subway in Beijing an easy thing. But they may soon be unnecessary.

Starting Monday, China Mobile users can use near-field-communication, or NFC-enabled handsets to get access to public buses and subway lines in Beijing. They can also make payments below 1,000 yuan at a number of up-scale shops. Beijing China Mobile customers can visit any of six designated China Mobile shops to switch their SIM cards out for new ones that will allow them to connect their phones to their bank accounts.

Samsung's Galaxy S4, the HTC One, and some Huawei and ZTE models can support NFC functions.