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Residents of new condo to use EZ-Link cards to access units, pay for services

SINGAPORE — Residents at an upcoming residential project in Toa Payoh will be able to use their Ez-Link cards to enter the condominium and pay for certain services, following a first-of-its-kind collaboration between EZ-Link company and the condo’s developers.

Residents of the upcoming Gem Residences will be able to use their EZ-Link cards to access the condo and pay for services. Photo: Gem Residences

Residents of the upcoming Gem Residences will be able to use their EZ-Link cards to access the condo and pay for services. Photo: Gem Residences

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SINGAPORE — Residents at an upcoming residential project in Toa Payoh will be able to use their Ez-Link cards to enter the condominium and pay for certain services, following a first-of-its-kind collaboration between EZ-Link company and the condo’s developers.

Residents of Gem Residences will be able to use the cards — which have a higher security configuration — to access common areas, lifts and intercoms, EZ-Link said in a press release on Wednesday (May 18).

They can also pick up parcels delivered while they are out from smart lockers installed at the condominium, as the access cards will be registered to each homeowner.

The EZ-Link cards can be used to book and pay for services in the condo, such as car-rental, housekeeping, vending machines, said Mr Vincent Ong, managing partner of Evia Real Estate. 

His company is developing Gem Residences together with Gamuda Berhad and Maxdin Pte Ltd.

There will be an EZ-Link top-up station within the condo, which is near Braddell MRT station and is scheduled to be ready for occupation in 2020. 

Homeowners who want to use their EZ-Link cards to access their units can upgrade to a smart-door lock as well.

The EZ-Link residential access cards are possible due to a breakthrough in secure encryption technology, said Mr Lim Boon Seng, managing director of MQuest, which will design the cards for Gem Residences.

MQuest is also EZ-Link’s authorised smart card access vendor. 

Unlike the existing EZ-Link cards now in use, the Gem Residences cards will have a higher level of encryption that prevents them from being cloned.

The cards will have a dedicated memory space to store security information for door lock and access. Compared to other access card technology, the Gem Residences card will require secure authentication before access is granted, increasing the security level of door access, said Mr Lim. 

The security information is also encrypted before it is written into the EZ-Link card as an additional security measure.

Since each card will be registered to a household, it can be disabled if the owner loses the card.

Similar to existing EZ-Link card technology, data can be tracked when a card is used, and the information will be made available to homeowners for cards registered under their unit upon request, Mr Ong said.

The cards can also be programmed to allow access to specific doors at specific times. For example, a resident could allow a housekeeper access to his or her unit only between 8am and 10am, Mr Ong added.

The developers hope the EZ-Link key cards will bring greater convenience for residents.

“Right now, people have too many cards in their wallet for too little services, so we wanted one card that contains all services,” said Mr Ong.

MQuest and EZ-Link are approaching other residential developers, hotels and commercial areas to implement the EZ-Link card access in other developments, said Mr Lim.

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