SINGAPORE (June 6): Public commuters in Singapore may now opt to pay for their bus or mass rapid transit (MRT) rides with their Visa contactless cards or compatible mobile devices, instead of using cash or EZ-Link cards.

This comes as part of the Land Transport Authority’s (LTA) SimplyGo initiative, which launched on April 4 this year starting with MasterCard.

“Commuters are clearly enjoying the convenience of carrying only one card to make contactless transit payments. Since the launch of SimplyGo just a few weeks ago, we have seen a fourfold increase in the number of transactions made on UOB credit and debit cards at fare readers on buses and at MRT stations. With Visa now joining SimplyGo, we expect more commuters to get on board and use contactless payments,” says Choo Wan Sim, Head of Cards and Payments Singapore, UOB.

UOB is the bank appointed by LTA to process all contactless credit and debit card payments made at bus and MRT fare readers since the SimplyGo pilot commenced in March 2017.

In a press release on Thursday, Visa says its project with LTA will be one of its largest implementations of contactless acceptance for transit globally at 30,000 acceptance points.

This makes paying for public transportation not only more convenient, but also enhances the overall travel experience by eliminating the need to carry multiple cards or top up stored value travel cards, says the financial services corporation.

All banks that issue contactless-enabled Visa cards – namely Bank of China, CIMB, Citibank, DBS, HSBC, ICBC Bank, Maybank, OCBC Bank, Standard Chartered Bank and UOB – will be part of the latest transit initiative.

Singaporean commuters will also be able to make their mobile contactless Visa transactions via compatible devices installed with Apple Pay, Fitbit Pay, Google Pay and Samsung Pay.

At the same time, Singtel Dash mobile wallet users may tap and pay for bus and train rides with their Dash Visa Virtual Account. This method is recommend for use on NFC-enabled Android phones, Samsung Galaxy A9 (2018) and Samsung Galaxy S10 installed with the Singtel Dash mobile wallet app.

Kunal Chatterjee, Visa country manager for Singapore and Brunei, says the company intends to continue working closely with its partners to streamline the payment experience at all touchpoints across Singapore – including transport, retail and dining – for a seamless and convenient experience.

“Today, Singapore is already one of the top markets globally in terms of contactless penetration with more than 80% of all Visa transactions being contactless,” comments Chatterjee, citing VisaNet data as at March 2019.

“We expect this number to grow even faster with the opening of transit acceptance,” he adds.

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