Commuters who have contactless payment functions like VisapayWave on their Visa cards will be able to use these cards to pay for public transport fares from June 6.
The Land Transport Authority (LTA), which is a statutory board under the Ministry of Transport, announced on Thursday (May 16) that the contactless Visa payments for public transport fares are a part of its SimplyGo initiative.
Under this initiative, commuters will soon be able to use credit cards and mobile wallet payment services like Google Pay, Samsung Pay and Apple Pay to pay for bus and train rides without having to top up their travel concession cards. The initiative was first rolled out last month when Mastercard users were able to use their cards to pay for travel fares.
Revealing that they were “encouraged” by the response to the service last month, LTA’s senior group director for public transport, Yeo Teck Guan, said that there has been “a steady uptake in usage since (SimplyGo’s) launch, with an average of over 120,000 daily trips … With the inclusion of Visa, more commuters will benefit.”
Commuters who hold Mastercard or Visa cards that have EZ-Link or NETS FlashPay functions, and will thus need to top up their cards to travel, can switch to direct payment by making use of any general ticketing machine at MRT and LRT stations.
The LTA also reminded commuters to only tap the card they wish to use to travel, especially as the initiative progressively covers more cards, to avoid delays or multiple charges on different contactless payment cards.
The statutory board added that commuters can monitor their travel spending and trip history by creating an account on the TransitLink SimplyGo website or mobile application./TISG