Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Ez-link Card - Part 9 (Find more uses for ez-link cards)

TODAY, Tuesday September 29, 2009, VOICES, page 22
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Picture is obtained from http://blog.uncovering.org/php/build_image.php? path=http://blog.uncovering.org/archives/uploads/2007/070824_blog.uncovering.org_ren-shanghai_1_big.jpg


Find more uses for ez-link cards
Letter from Ong L H
TEN years ago, I left Singapore to work in Shanghai. There, I discovered I could use their local version of what we know as the ez-link card not just on buses, trains and taxis, but also when paying for items at fast food outlets and stores like Watsons.



A decade later, I’ve returned to Singapore, but find our ez-link system hasn’t progressed at all in terms of usefulness beyond trains and buses.




You can no longer pay for a meal at McDonald’s with the card. That was about the only non-transport use of the card I can think of.

And even for taxis — a key form of public transport here — we continue to see cabs jamming up our roads because passengers have to fumble for cash to pay the fare.





All other means of fare payment have proven unpopular because of the slow processing time and additional fees charged.




The ez-link card has potential for much wider, more efficient use. Taxis are an obvious starting point.




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