Soon, Pay for Public Transport Fare with Visa Contactless Cards in Singapore

There’s no doubt that Singapore has one of the region’s best public transportation systems, and even in the world.

ALSO READ: SBS Transit Buses to Offer Free Wi-Fi from February 2019

It is through constant innovation and upgrade of facilities that Singapore was able to establish itself in this aspect and remain competitive throughout the years. Furthermore, countries where accessibility to public services including transportation is effective, the economy and more businesses are expected to flourish. And yet again, Singapore will be introducing a more convenient mode of transport fare payment, even for tourists.

Soon, Pay for Public Transport Fare with Visa Contactless Cards in Singapore
Credits: gov.sg

Pay for Public Transport Fares with Visa Contactless Cards Soon

The Land Transport Authority (LTA) announced that commuters will be able to use their Visa contactless cards to pay for their public transport fares from Jun 6 of this year, as shared in a report by gov.sg.

The initiative comes after the launch of the SimplyGo back in April, which enabled commuters to use their Mastercard contactless bank cards or mobile phones to pay for their public transport rides, eliminating the need for top-ups.

The transport authority added that most contactless card users can use the payment service with Visa now on board.

According to Mr. Yeo Teck Guan, LTA senior group director for public transport, the commuters’ positive response towards the launch of of SimplyGo was the inspiration for them to consider the inclusion of Visa into the process, which would benefit the 120,000 daily users of public transport systems and more.

The steady usage uptake since its (SimplyGo) launch is expected to further increase the contactless acceptance footprint, as per Mr. Kunal Chatterjee, Visa country manager for Singapore and Brunei.

Mr. Kunal explained that the launch of SimplyGo for Visa contactless cards will bring the convenience of contactless transit payments to local Visa cardholders and international travellers visiting the country.

Through this initiative, the transport authority is looking at a growth in Visa contactless usage in Singapore that will surpass the current contactless penetration of over 80 percent.

For those who wish to use SimplyGo, commuters will have to switch their cards’ payment mode to bank card.

The transport authority said, “To use SimplyGo with contactless cards, cardholders who have EZ-Link/NETS FlashPay functionality built into their Mastercard or Visa contactless bank cards will need to visit a General Ticketing Machine at any MRT or LRT station to switch their cards’ payment mode to bank card.

Furthermore, commuters can easily view their travel expenditure and history by registering for an account on the TransitLink SimplyGo Portal available online or via the TL SimplyGo mobile app.

By year-end, commuters using their ez-link cards can also get an upgrade to enjoy SimplyGo benefits which include topping up on-the-go through the SimplyGo account, the LTA added.