Update: Contactless payment for public transport now available

MOBILE phones that are enabled for contactless payment can now be used for payments on MRT, LRT and public buses, a joint statement from the Land Transport Authority (LTA), Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA), and EZ-Link said on Tuesday. These can also be used at more than 30,000 ez-link acceptance points island-wide, including retail, food and beverage outlets, and on taxis.

This followed a joint trial with the mobile network operators and public transport operators on the use of compatible mobile phones with Near Field Communication (NFC) technology to make public transport payments.

Said LTA chief executive Chew Men Leong: "This is a milestone in the use of NFC technology in public transit in Singapore. We have been testing various innovative fare payment systems, and bringing these NFC SIMs and mobile phone models into the public transit ticketing environment bears fruit to LTA's on-going efforts to leverage on technology to bring greater convenience to commuters through new and convenient ways to pay for travel."

Customers that use compartibile phones such as the Samsung Galaxy Note Edge 4G+, the Samsung Galaxy S7 4G+ or the Sony Xperia Z5, will still need to change their SIM cards to the NFC transit SIM for a fee. M1 said on Tuesday it will roll out this service from today. StarHub said this will be available at its stores from April 2.

"This development is a step in the right direction towards stimulating digital commerce growth in Singapore. Our world is becoming increasingly digital, and we are looking forward to meeting the needs of our mobile customers, who want to do more with their smartphones," said Yeong Mun-Ling, head of business strategy, StarHub.

P Subramaniam, chief marketing officer, M1, said in a statement: "Transit is the 'killer phone app' Singapore consumers have been looking forward to, and we are pleased to be the first to offer customers the convenience of making payment with the one device that is always with them, their phone."