Jan 22, 2024: The U-turn
On Monday, the plan to phase out the current ticketing system was shelved.
“LTA will be extending the existing adult card-based ticketing (CBT) system, to operate in parallel with the SimplyGo system,” said the agency.
“The extension will continue to give adult commuters the option of using the EZ-Link and NETS FlashPay cards or their SimplyGo-compatible cards on public transport.”
It added that commuters who have purchased or converted their cards to SimplyGo EZ-Link cards between Jan 9 and Jan 22, can exchange them for a CBT EZ-Link card for free if they wish to do so.
The same goes for concession cardholders with a SimplyGo-compatible card. This includes seniors, students, Workfare Transport Concession cardholders, and people with disabilities.
Transport Minister Chee Hong Tat, who announced the move on Monday, acknowledged in a Facebook post the concerns of commuters who want to continue seeing their fare deductions and card balances at fare gates and bus card readers.
“I have discussed your feedback and concerns with the Transport Ministry and LTA,” said Mr Chee. “We have decided to extend the use of the current CBT system for adult commuters, and not to sunset the system in 2024 as originally planned.”
“We will spend an additional S$40 million (US$29.8 million), so that commuters can continue to use EZ Link cards and NETS FlashPay cards if they wish to.”
Mr Chee also apologised for the delays in the card upgrade to SimplyGo.
“I apologise on behalf of MOT and LTA for the delays commuters experienced when they tried to convert their existing EZ Link cards,” he said. “This could have been avoided with better preparation.”
He added that he has tasked LTA to study ways to enhance the features and improve the user experience for account-based ticketing cards.
In response to CNA’s queries, an LTA spokesperson said on Monday evening that the additional S$40 million allocated to support the continued use of EZ-Link and NETS FlashPay cards will be used for hardware replacements and systems maintenance needed to extend the adult card-based ticketing system.
LTA also said that it conducted market testing and focus group sessions with adult commuters and concession cardholders before the SimplyGo transition plan was finalised.
Account-based ticketing cards were issued to more than 1,000 concession cardholders in 2021 for them to test and report back based on their experience.
The group that had the most concerns were seniors who were worried about the absence of the fare and balance display at station gates and bus readers because of the way SimplyGo public transport transactions are processed.
“This guided LTA’s decision to extend the card-based ticketing system for concession cards from the get-go so that concession cardholders, such as seniors, are not impacted by this round of changes,” the spokesperson said.