CONSUMERS will now be able to use a new ez-link card to do anything from paying for train and bus fares to Electronic Road Pricing (ERP) fees.

The new smart cards will be available for sale from today at all MRT stations.

Touted as being much more than its predecessor, the new smart card can also be used to pay for items from 7-Eleven and McDonald's as well as SMRT cab fares.

You can also use the card for ERP fees and Electronic Parking System (EPS) carpark payments in March 2009, said an ez-link spokesman.

The stored value of the new card has been increased to a maximum of $500, up from $100 for the existing card.

It will be available at $15, with a $5 fixed cost and $10 in stored value.

From January next year, all passengers will be able to exchange their old ez-link cards for the new ones, for free.

Currently, there are more than 10 million ez-link cards in circulation.

With the recent opening of the transit market to four multi-purpose card operators, this launch has ez-link beating the rest to the first new product.

The Singapore transit market is worth an estimated $1.5 billion a year and competition is expected to intensify as three other smart card operators enter the market next year.

This will happen after "the entire system is stable with a single CEPAS-compliant card" before bringing in other card issuers, said the Land Transport Authority.

CEPAS (Contactless e-Purse Application) is a new cashless nationwide e-payment technology platform which the Land Transport Authority (LTA) requires all card operators to conform to.

Network For Electronic Transfers (Nets) said its smart cashcards would likely be available by September next year.

Fast Innovations Asia, which is producing a pint-sized smart card called the "stickkey" for ez-link, aims to get their sticker cards out by the middle of next year.

The other two players have not announced their plans for the market.

Ms Jafiz Ishahak of research firm Frost and Sullivan said that multi-purpose smart cards offer consumers the benefit of multiple uses in one card.

"But for these cards to really kick off, they need to bring in a lot more merchants who accept the card," she said.

The analyst said that the take-up rate was low in other countries because there were not enough uses for such cards.

With four players in a limited transit market, each needs to differentiate its product, other analysts say.

"Even for countries with bigger populations, such as Hong Kong and South Korea, only one or two card operators exist in their markets," said Ms Ishahak.

Nets argues that its main differentiation is its strength in the retail market, with more than 30,000 partner merchants across the island.

"We hope to capture a lion's share of the transit market," said a spokesman.

But ez-link is not resting on its laurels. The upcoming stickkey, which can be attached to cellphones and other surfaces, can be already be used at some cafes, restaurants and schools.

Commuter Madam Betty Chee, 40, is looking forward to the new card. "It is always good for us to have more options, just don't raise fares to recoup the cost of implementing this new smart card," she quipped.

Read also:
» EZ-link card to be replaced with new card

This article was first published in The Straits Times on Dec 27, 2008.

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