Due to public discontent towards the Government’s planned full-adoption of the SimplyGo platform, Minister of Transport Chee Hong Tat has announced that it will extend the existing adult card-based ticketing (CBT) system.
This means that those who are still holding on to their EZ-Link and NETS FlashPay cards can continue to use them for public transportation.
The move comes in the wake of a stronger-than-expected backlash to the transition.
The existing system will run in parallel with the SimplyGo system. It will cost the authorities an additional S$40 million to allow commuters to use EZ-Link and NETS FlashPay cards if they want to.
Commuters who’ve already made the switch but would like to revert to their EZ-Link or concession cards may do so for free.
Earlier this month, The Land Transport Authority (LTA) said that it would be transiting all adult commuters to the SimplyGo platform.
The news caused much confusion and unhappiness among commuters, many of whom cited issues such as not being able to see their balance.
Acknowledging the grievances in a Facebook post today (22 Jan), Transport Minister Chee Hong Tat apologised on behalf of LTA and the Ministry of Transport (MOT) for the delays in the conversion process.
Source: Chee Hong Tat on Facebook
He said LTA has updated the SimplyGo app and sped up the conversion process.
“We will spend an additional S$40 million, so that commuters can continue to use EZ Link cards and NETS FlashPay cards if they wish to,” Mr Chee noted.
MS News understands the sum will be set aside for hardware replacements, maintenance and logistics.
Mr Chee also said he has tasked LTA to study ways to enhance and improve the user experience — notably, possible solutions to display fare deductions and stored value card balances at fare gates and bus card readers.
If you’d still like to view your fare in the meantime, you can view real-time push notifications of your transport history on the SimplyGo app as long as you have the app installed. This means once you’ve tapped in or out, the fare will be displayed as a notification from the SimplyGo app.
No details were given on when the authorities will continue their plans for a fully-SimplyGo adoption.
In light of the new changes, LTA will be allowing adult commuters and concession cardholders who’ve changed to SimplyGo to make the switch back for free.
Adult commuters who purchased their SimplyGo EZ-Link cards or converted their existing ones between 9 and 22 Jan (inclusive) may change their cards back to the CBT EZ-Link cards if they wish to do so.
Meanwhile, concession cardholders who made the switch on or before 22 Jan will also have the chance to exchange their cards for free.
Concession cardholders include:
LTA requests public understanding that it will need time to prepare operations for the card exchange.
More details will be available by the end of February. In the meantime, the authority said it will continue to improve SimplyGo for a better user experience.
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Featured image adapted from SBS Transit.
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