Commuters will soon be able to cut down the number of cards they carry for transport purposes, such as CashCard and ez-link cards, with a new e-payment system to be launched in this month.

Symphony for e-Payment (SeP), developed by the Land Transport Authority, will allow any card to be used for payment purposes - as long as it complies with the Singapore Standard for Contactless ePurse Application (CEPAS).

Commuters can eventually use CEPAS-compliant cards for other payments such as Electronic Road Pricing (ERP) and parking.

Also, there will no longer be a travel deposit locked into the new ez-link cards. Commuters will have full use of the stored value of the card.

Holders of the current ez-link card will get new CEPAS-compliant cards in a free one-for-one card replacement exercise which will start in Jan '09.

Details of the exercise will be announced in early January 2009.

Both the new system and the existing Enhanced Integrated Farecard System (EIFS) will run concurrently to allow commuters ample time to replace their cards.

A trial to test the e-payment system was held from Aug 29 to Oct 28.

The trial, which involved some 5,000 commuters, generated 1.7 million transactions and has confirmed that the system is ready for revenue service.