As of June 6, commuters in Singapore will have the opportunity to use their Visa contactless cards when using public transport, according to the Land Transport Authority (LTA).
The move arrived following the introduction of SimplyGo last month, channelnewsasia.com reports, which gave commuters the opportunity to use their Mastercard contactless bank cards or smartphones to pay for public transport, without requiring a top-up system.
The LTA added that most payments via contactless card will also be allowed to be made while on board.
LTA senior group director of public transport Mr Yeo Teck Guan said: “We are encouraged by commuters’ response towards the launch of SimplyGo.
“We are seeing a steady uptake in usage since its launch, with an average of over 120,000 daily trips. With the inclusion of Visa, more commuters will benefit.”
Visa country manager for Singapore and Brunei Mr Kunal Chatterjee also noted that Visa will continue to broaden its contactless acceptance footprint.
“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.
“With this, we foresee Visa contactless usage in Singapore continuing to grow, surpassing the current contactless penetration of over 80%,” Mr Chatterjee said.
The LTA added that in order to make use of this service, commuters will have to shift their cards’ payment mode to bank card.
“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,” said the LTA.
The transport authority said that travellers will also have easy access to their travel expenses and history, via an online account registration on the TransitLink SimplyGo Portal, made available also through the TL SimplyGo mobile application.
Customers can also choose to receive push notifications on their phone informing them of their transactions, every time they tap out at the end of a journey.
The LTA pointed out that those who usually carry more than one contactless bank or travel card when commuting, are advised to take out the card they wish to use prior to tapping it, in order to avoid additional charges to several cards or a travel delay.
