Singapore United Mastercard launches contactless payment for rides in April
According to foreign media reports on March 7, Singapore’s Land Transport Authority (LTA) Senior Minister Janil Puthucheary stated at the Budget Committee (COS) on the 7th that from April this year, people in Singapore will be able to use MasterCard contactless banking Cards or mobile phones that support contactless payments to ride buses and trains, and Visa cards are expected to launch this feature "later this year."
Dr. Puthucheary said that the Land Transport Authority of Singapore began to cooperate with MasterCard in March 2017 to test the use of contactless bank cards on public transportation in a pilot account-based ticketing service. This test is "successful" and the Land Transport Authority is now preparing to fully launch this service under the new brand SimplyGo
Dr. Puthucheary said, “With SimplyGo, people will be able to choose to bring one less bus card when they travel; if they use their mobile phone to pay, they don’t have to swipe the card.”
In other reports on the 7th, the Land Transport Administration also stated that people can register for a SimplyGo account first, and then bind different contactless bank cards on the Tonglian SimplyGo portal or app. For those who participated in the trial before, the MasterCard they used in the trial phase can still be used. In addition, those users who use discount cards, Yitong cards or Wanjietong cards and other stored-value cards will be able to enjoy the same convenience after upgrading their existing cards at the end of the year.
After announcing the launch of SimplyGo, MasterCard issued a statement stating that it was "very happy" to be the first international payment brand to launch SimplyGo in cooperation with the Land Transport Authority.