These days, taking public transport is as simple as tapping on our smartphone or smartwatch, as we can link our debit or credit card to them and pay that way.
But we do have to ensure we’re using the same device when tapping in and out, as one Singaporean found out.
To his shock, he found that his public transport fares had been around S$15 daily and initially, he had no idea why.
It turns out, it was because he’d been using both his smartwatch and smartphone, which counts as two different transactions even though they’re linked to the same card.
The man took to TikTok to share his experience.
According to the TikTok video on 14 Oct, Qazim said his public transport fares would go up to S$15 daily on his credit card bill.
Image courtesy of Qazim
Puzzled, Qazim quizzed his friends, but they told him their fares were only around S$4-5 daily — S$2 a trip.
Now he was really panicking. In fact, he’d even told his friends that public transport was expensive, as he noted in the video caption.
Qazim, who works as a civil servant, shared with MS News that he travelled to these places via MRT on 10 Sep:
Additionally, he also made two trips via bus after arriving at Clementi station.
After some probing, Qazim found the reason for his expensive train fares.
It turns out that he was using both his smartphone and smartwatch to tap in and out of the train, resulting in two different and ‘incomplete’ transactions.
Image courtesy of Qazim
This happens because sometimes his Apple Watch wouldn’t work, and he’d take out his phone to tap out instead.
As you can see from the screenshots, there are several missing entries, caused by using two different devices.
“For some people, you wouldn’t know, ’cause it’s (the) same credit card, but it’s not (the same transaction),” Qazim said in the video.
He ended by asking everyone to always check their credit card bills, and also find out whether they tap out properly.
While using your smartphone or smartwatch is convenient, we still have to be careful when using them. Unlike a card, your device may run out of battery or get jammed.
As Qazim painfully found out, one should always use the same device or card to tap in and out. Otherwise, such discrepancies will occur.
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Featured image adapted from @qazimzim on TikTok.
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