To LTA SG: Reconsider allowing Nets Flashpay to pay for rides or improve SimplyGo
To LTA SG: Reconsider allowing Nets Flashpay to pay for rides or improve SimplyGo
The Issue
UPDATED 22 JAN 2024:
LTA has announced that commuters no longer need to switch to SimplyGo as LTA U-turns on move to replace older ticketing system - CNA
Introduction
On 9 January 2024, the Land Transport Authority of Singapore (LTA SG) announced that Nets Flashpay will no longer be usable to pay for bus and train rides starting from 1 June 2024.
As per quoted by LTA's website (source in reference), "About two in three adult fare transactions on public transport are made using either SimplyGo EZ-Link or bank cards. With SimplyGo, cardholders can view their fare history on-the-go, top up their cards using their mobile phones, and block lost cards remotely to prevent unauthorised transactions."
Issues with SimplyGo
While this sounds feasible on paper. It is noted that SimplyGo requires an internet connection to work as it is a mobile app. This meant that if there is no mobile network, you are completely unable to look at your balance. This meant that you need to constantly check your balance to see if it is sufficient, which is a contrast to Nets Flashpay which is using the older system where you can see your balance when you tap in and out. This can be problematic notably if the user doesn't have auto top-up such as me as I do not want to link stuff to my bank card.
This meant that if SimplyGo is down, I would need to go and manually check my balance everytime I exit the MRT just to ensure that I have enough for my next ride. This creates inconvenience as this will hold up the queue at the faregate if I assume I have enough to pay for my ride. Furthermore, I'm considered fortunate to live near an MRT station, for users who rely on buses and do not have convenient access to a topup machine, this meant that if a user is unable to pay for their ride, they would need to either need to pay cash, or they are required to do a digital topup on the spot (which can be an issue if the system is down). If the user doesn't do digital topups like me who relies on Flashpay, this meant that I would be stranded at the stop unless I keep checking my balance.
Another issue is that not all users are tech savvy, while yes I agree that users who do not have the app can simply check at the app, one major issue I want to raise was that I faced an issue where the entire SimplyGo system is down, this meant that I was unable to topup even at the gantry, that was the reason where I bought a Nets Flashpay card for myself after being frustrated for so long ever since I switched to SimplyGo and it caused a whole lot of inconvenience for me. Given that if SimplyGo is down and I completely can't topup, my solution is simply use Flashpay, in the future, if SimplyGo system is down and I can't top up, what am I supposed to do? Pay cash for my ride just because of the system issue and the alternative is using a bank card?
A critical problem that I want to point out is the risk of paying more for my ride. There are posters onboard buses that state to only use one card to pay to avoid double paying. What about the real problem where I accidentally assumed I tapped in/out and ended up having to pay additional fare but I didn't because the person in front of me used SimplyGo and I tapped in/out, not knowing fully whether I did? The risk of this happening is very high, the reason why Flashpay's risk of this happening is near nonexistent is because of the fact that when I tap in/out, I can see my balance, unless the person in front of me have the exact same balance, which the chances are almost nonexistent even during the 2000s and 2010s, I know that I successfully tapped in and out, avoiding the risk where I have to double pay/pay the maximum fare just because of assumptions. You might ask, why not I just take a few seconds extra to be safe waiting for the faregate to close? This will end up jamming the queue for no good reason notably during peak hours which is causing unwanted inconveniences for others!
To quote LTA:
"They (users) can view their travel transactions and card balance at ticketing machines. As SimplyGo transactions are processed backend, similar to credit and debit card transactions, commuters using SimplyGo will not be able to view their fare deductions and card balances at station fare gates and bus readers."
How can we fix the issue?
As much as I want to suggest to LTA on implementing a system where users can view their SimplyGo card balance from the reader, I don't think this is that feasible because LTA has mentioned about how they processed the transactions.
However, if the relevant parties are able to rectify the issue before 1 June 2024 so that users can see their real-time balance at the faregate, then, the main issue of SimplyGo can be revolved. But, this isn’t 100% the best solution due to potential issues revolving around system downtime and outages.
Proposed solution:
We request for LTA to reconsider to not remove Nets Flashpay as a payment method for transport rides.
Even though "about two in three adult fare transactions on public transport are made using either SimplyGo EZ-Link or bank cards", I strongly disagree that the minority one third that uses other payment methods such as Flashpay should be forced to be convert to SimplyGo or bank card as they have their reasons for not wanting to convert, at the very least, I consider using SimplyGo if it shows the card balance on the reader but taken into consideration the limitations of the system, I would definitely use Flashpay if it is possible.
In a numerical scale, for example, if 1 million users use the ezlink card system daily, one third would be estimated at 340 thousand users who are still using non-SimplyGo and Bank Cards, this is still a noticeable number even though this is a minority, it is unfair to the minority users that we are being forced to switch to a system that we don't like for various reasons simply because the majority of users are okay with it!
Update/Edited 10 Jan 2024: For the NETS prepaid card replacing Flashpay, you are unable to look at your balance at the ticket gantry based on the link below, this is the exact same issue with SimplyGo. This may possibly change in the future, info is accurate as at 10 Jan 2024.
Reference:
https://www.nets.com.sg/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/document-comparison-nets-prepaid.pdf
The Issue
UPDATED 22 JAN 2024:
LTA has announced that commuters no longer need to switch to SimplyGo as LTA U-turns on move to replace older ticketing system - CNA
Introduction
On 9 January 2024, the Land Transport Authority of Singapore (LTA SG) announced that Nets Flashpay will no longer be usable to pay for bus and train rides starting from 1 June 2024.
As per quoted by LTA's website (source in reference), "About two in three adult fare transactions on public transport are made using either SimplyGo EZ-Link or bank cards. With SimplyGo, cardholders can view their fare history on-the-go, top up their cards using their mobile phones, and block lost cards remotely to prevent unauthorised transactions."
Issues with SimplyGo
While this sounds feasible on paper. It is noted that SimplyGo requires an internet connection to work as it is a mobile app. This meant that if there is no mobile network, you are completely unable to look at your balance. This meant that you need to constantly check your balance to see if it is sufficient, which is a contrast to Nets Flashpay which is using the older system where you can see your balance when you tap in and out. This can be problematic notably if the user doesn't have auto top-up such as me as I do not want to link stuff to my bank card.
This meant that if SimplyGo is down, I would need to go and manually check my balance everytime I exit the MRT just to ensure that I have enough for my next ride. This creates inconvenience as this will hold up the queue at the faregate if I assume I have enough to pay for my ride. Furthermore, I'm considered fortunate to live near an MRT station, for users who rely on buses and do not have convenient access to a topup machine, this meant that if a user is unable to pay for their ride, they would need to either need to pay cash, or they are required to do a digital topup on the spot (which can be an issue if the system is down). If the user doesn't do digital topups like me who relies on Flashpay, this meant that I would be stranded at the stop unless I keep checking my balance.
Another issue is that not all users are tech savvy, while yes I agree that users who do not have the app can simply check at the app, one major issue I want to raise was that I faced an issue where the entire SimplyGo system is down, this meant that I was unable to topup even at the gantry, that was the reason where I bought a Nets Flashpay card for myself after being frustrated for so long ever since I switched to SimplyGo and it caused a whole lot of inconvenience for me. Given that if SimplyGo is down and I completely can't topup, my solution is simply use Flashpay, in the future, if SimplyGo system is down and I can't top up, what am I supposed to do? Pay cash for my ride just because of the system issue and the alternative is using a bank card?
A critical problem that I want to point out is the risk of paying more for my ride. There are posters onboard buses that state to only use one card to pay to avoid double paying. What about the real problem where I accidentally assumed I tapped in/out and ended up having to pay additional fare but I didn't because the person in front of me used SimplyGo and I tapped in/out, not knowing fully whether I did? The risk of this happening is very high, the reason why Flashpay's risk of this happening is near nonexistent is because of the fact that when I tap in/out, I can see my balance, unless the person in front of me have the exact same balance, which the chances are almost nonexistent even during the 2000s and 2010s, I know that I successfully tapped in and out, avoiding the risk where I have to double pay/pay the maximum fare just because of assumptions. You might ask, why not I just take a few seconds extra to be safe waiting for the faregate to close? This will end up jamming the queue for no good reason notably during peak hours which is causing unwanted inconveniences for others!
To quote LTA:
"They (users) can view their travel transactions and card balance at ticketing machines. As SimplyGo transactions are processed backend, similar to credit and debit card transactions, commuters using SimplyGo will not be able to view their fare deductions and card balances at station fare gates and bus readers."
How can we fix the issue?
As much as I want to suggest to LTA on implementing a system where users can view their SimplyGo card balance from the reader, I don't think this is that feasible because LTA has mentioned about how they processed the transactions.
However, if the relevant parties are able to rectify the issue before 1 June 2024 so that users can see their real-time balance at the faregate, then, the main issue of SimplyGo can be revolved. But, this isn’t 100% the best solution due to potential issues revolving around system downtime and outages.
Proposed solution:
We request for LTA to reconsider to not remove Nets Flashpay as a payment method for transport rides.
Even though "about two in three adult fare transactions on public transport are made using either SimplyGo EZ-Link or bank cards", I strongly disagree that the minority one third that uses other payment methods such as Flashpay should be forced to be convert to SimplyGo or bank card as they have their reasons for not wanting to convert, at the very least, I consider using SimplyGo if it shows the card balance on the reader but taken into consideration the limitations of the system, I would definitely use Flashpay if it is possible.
In a numerical scale, for example, if 1 million users use the ezlink card system daily, one third would be estimated at 340 thousand users who are still using non-SimplyGo and Bank Cards, this is still a noticeable number even though this is a minority, it is unfair to the minority users that we are being forced to switch to a system that we don't like for various reasons simply because the majority of users are okay with it!
Update/Edited 10 Jan 2024: For the NETS prepaid card replacing Flashpay, you are unable to look at your balance at the ticket gantry based on the link below, this is the exact same issue with SimplyGo. This may possibly change in the future, info is accurate as at 10 Jan 2024.
Reference:
https://www.nets.com.sg/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/document-comparison-nets-prepaid.pdf
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Petition created on 9 January 2024