Commuters can now pay fares with Mastercard
Commuters can now eliminate the hassle for regular top-ups and pay for their train and bus trips by tapping their credit card or phone.
The new scheme is currently limited to Mastercard users and does not reflect concession fares such as those for students and senior citizens.
Users who keep their ez-link cards with their credit card in their wallets would also need to remove one or risk paying double.
The scheme, which was rolled out yesterday and is called SimplyGo, is yet another step towards Singapore's Smart Nation and cashless goals.
It links a user's Mastercard credit or debit card to the transport providers. To use the service, commuters tap the ticketing machine with their Mastercard or mobile phone, which must already have Apple Pay, Fitbit Pay, Google Pay or Samsung Pay available.
By downloading the SimplyGo application, users can also see the fare charged per trip and information such as bus routes and timings.
They can also track their expenditure via the app or the TransitLink SimplyGo portal.
LTA said Visa is expected to come on board later this year.
SimplyGo was launched at a roadshow at Downtown MRT station, which Senior Parliamentary Secretary for Transport Baey Yam Keng attended.
"Essentially, we want to make the experience of commuters as hassle-free and convenient as possible," he said.
He added that SimplyGo is not replacing existing payment methods such as ez-link cards, but rather, providing commuters with another choice.
Senior Minister of State for Transport Janil Puthucheary first announced the scheme in Parliament last month, following a two-year trial which began in 2017.
Mastercard Singapore country manager Deborah Heng said the payments firm saw 26 million transactions from 100,000 users during the trial period. It expects numbers to increase with SimplyGo's official launch.
While there are no transaction fees for the service, concessions - such as those available for senior citizens or students - are not currently available for those using SimplyGo, though LTA said they may be included in the future.
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