SINGAPORE — The planned full adoption of the SimplyGo payment system for adult public transport fares will be postponed from the original June 1 date while the authorities try to iron out concerns raised by commuters, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) said on Monday (Jan 22).

Separately, Transport Minister Chee Hong Tat said that the Government will spend S$40 million to extend the use of Ez-link cards and Nets FlashPay cards for adult commuters, and not to “sunset” the system this year as originally planned.

The postponement came less than two weeks after LTA announced that Nets FlashPay and Ez-link non-concession adult cards — known as card-based ticketing cards — that have not been upgraded to SimplyGo will not be accepted for public transport payments from June 1.

No timeframe was given on Monday for how long the postponement would last.

Commuters who had bought or converted their old Ez-link cards to SimplyGo in the past two weeks can exchange it for their original card for free, LTA said. 

LTA added that the S$40 million budget for the extension of the card-based ticketing system will be funded by the Government and used for the hardware replacements and systems maintenance required. 

In a Facebook post on Monday, Mr Chee said that one concern raised by commuters about SimplyGo is that they would no longer be able to see their stored-value card balance and fare deducted at MRT fare gates and on public buses.

Another concern was the delays that commuters faced when they tried to upgrade their EZ-link cards to SimplyGo-compatible cards over the past two weeks. 

Mr Chee said: “I apologise on behalf of MOT (Ministry of Transport) and LTA for the delays commuters experienced when they tried to convert their existing Ez-link cards.

“This could have been avoided with better preparation.” 

He added that LTA has worked to address this issue and has updated the SimplyGo mobile application and sped up the card conversion process.

In its statement, LTA said that adult commuters who have bought SimplyGo Ez-link cards or converted their Ez-link cards to SimplyGo since Jan 9 may exchange their cards for the old-style cards for free, if they wish to do so.

Concession cardholders who got a SimplyGo-compatible card or converted their cards to SimplyGo on or before Jan 22 will have the option as well to exchange their card to their original concession card for free, if they do not wish to keep using their SimplyGo cards. 

“We seek commuters’ understanding that we require some time to prepare our operations for the card exchange, to minimise inconvenience to commuters,” LTA said. 

It added that more details will be available by the end of February.

In a statement on Monday, Nets said that it is working with LTA to allow people who have bought the Nets prepaid card between Jan 9 and 22 to exchange their cards for a Nets FlashPay card.

"Nets will work with LTA to finalise the exchange process and update commuters once the details are finalised," the payment service provider added.

It will also continue the sale of the Nets FlashPay card "in line with LTA’s announcement to extend the existing adult card-based ticketing system, to operate in parallel with the SimplyGo system."

"Nets prepaid card, which can be used for transit and retail, continues to be available to consumers who prefer the functionalities offered under account-based ticketing," the company added.

In response to TODAY's queries, LTA said that since Jan 9, more than 100,000 commuters have downloaded the SimplyGo app and close to 140,000 adult commuters and concession card users have switched to SimplyGo.

The authority said that it conducted "market testing and focus group sessions" with adult commuters and concession cardholders before finalising the SimplyGo transition plan.

It also issued account-based cards to more than 1,000 concession cardholders in 2021, to let them test and report back on their experience. 

"Generally, groups such as persons with disabilities, polytechnic and university students, and full-time national servicemen were supportive of these cards and did not mind the lack of fare and balance display," LTA said. 

"Additionally, we only decided to make the transition when we assessed that two in three adult fare transactions were made on SimplyGo via bank cards and stored-value cards."

'SIMPLYGO SYSTEM HAS ITS BENEFITS'

Mr Chee said in his post that account-based ticketing cards such as SimplyGo and bank cards such as credit and debit cards have their benefits. 

For example, if someone misplaces a registered account-based ticketing stored-value card, the balance amount can be protected because the value is stored in the user’s account. 

However, if they lose a card-based ticketing card such as an Ez-link card, the value stored in the card will be lost.  

“Some people buy account-based ticketing stored-value cards for their family members, so that they can top up the value more conveniently using the SimplyGo app,” he said. 

“In addition, account-based ticketing enables commuters to use bank cards and mobile wallets to pay public transport fares.”

He added that over time, such cards have grown more popular, with about 40 per cent of adult commuters now using bank cards or mobile wallets.

However, because account-based ticketing cards do not store fares and card balance data in the card itself, it would take “a few seconds to retrieve the information from the backend system to display at the fare gates and bus card readers”.

“This would slow down the flow of commuters and cause long queues, especially during peak hours.

“Unfortunately, there is currently no technical solution to this. This is the case elsewhere, too.”

For example, account-based ticketing cards in London and Hong Kong also do not display fare deductions and card balances at fare gates, unlike their card-based ticketing payment options. 

Mr Chee continued: “I have tasked LTA to study ways to enhance the features and improve the user experience for account-based ticketing cards, in particular, possible solutions for account-based ticketing cards to display fare deductions and stored value card balances at fare gates and bus card-readers.”

MOVE TO SIMPLYGO DREW CRITICISM

LTA said on Jan 9 that Nets FlashPay and Ez-link non-concession adult cards that have not been upgraded to SimplyGo would not be accepted for public transport payments from June 1.

It said then that this was part of its transition to SimplyGo, a system that had been increasingly adopted by commuters.

Commuters may still use these two types of stored-value cards for motoring-related payments such as at Electronic Road Pricing gantries and parking charges.

However, the announcement drew criticism. Some confused public transport users wanted to know more about SimplyGo, while others were wondering what they needed to do to continue paying by card.

The lack of display for the card's value balance and deducted fares was an ongoing complaint.

LTA then said that this was due to SimplyGo transactions being processed on the backend, similar to credit and debit card transactions. 

SimplyGo was introduced in 2019 by LTA to offer a range of digital ticketing and e-payment options for transit. The system allows cardholders to view fare history and top-up card balance on-the-go via an app.

SimplyGo has enabled commuters to use contactless bank cards for public transport since its rollout, it said.

Until the latest move, the older Ez-link adult cards not upgraded to SimplyGo and Nets FlashPay cards have operated in tandem with the SimplyGo system.