flag 2.3.2 category 2.3.2 sp
article 2.3.2
The Transport Minister also explained why the government will need to spend S$40 million to upkeep the older ticketing system.
This audio is generated by an AI tool.
Transport Minister Chee Hong Tat explains how the push for full adoption of the SimplyGo payment platform for public transport was a “judgment error” on Friday, Jan 26, 2024.
SINGAPORE: The push for full adoption of the SimplyGo payment platform for public transport was a “judgment error” and the older ticketing system will be in place until at least 2030, said Transport Minister Chee Hong Tat on Friday (Jan 26).
Mr Chee told reporters that the Land Transport Authority (LTA) had “underestimated” the strong preference of some commuters to be able to view the fare deductions and card balances at station gates and bus card readers.
“This was a judgment error on our part, and I apologise to our commuters for what happened. We will learn from this and we will do better in future,” he said at an interview organised for some media outlets.
The minister added that the card-based ticketing (CBT) system for adult commuters will be in place until at least 2030.
"this is pull quotes............231425$%%
card
Catch the Olympics Games Tokyo 2020 LIVE with 14 dedicated channels on meWATCH. Sign in now at mewatch.sg/tokyo2020 and get into the action with Mediacorp, Singapore’s Olympics Network.
context snippet
He said the existing CBT system for adults is
reaching the end of its shelf life this year,
and LTA had to decide if it would continue with the system or not.
“It is a cost that LTA wanted to try and avoid incurring by
sunsetting the CBT system for adult commuters.
“However, we realised that this was not in line with what many commuters want.
This was not in line with the feedback that many commuters were telling us. We decided we will not proceed with this decision (to sunset the CBT system),” said Mr Chee.
He added that the S$40 million is “not going to be part of public transport fares”,
and that the sum will be borne by the government.
This means there will be three systems:
The account-based ticketing system SimplyGo,
the CBT system for adults, and the CBT system for concession card holders.
evening brief
Description added by qa
Sub - Description added by qa
He said the government will look at whether it is possible to “progressively integrate” the two CBT systems over time.
The minister has also tasked LTA to improve the features of SimplyGo.
"This is something which we want to do, because I think it is important to provide this to our commuters who want to be able to see their fare deductions and card balances at the fare gates and bus card readers.
"At the moment, there is no technical solution for this, both here and overseas. The worry is that if you do this and there is a long delay, it will cause long queues and slow down the flow of commuters," he said.
He added that the authorities will “decide later” whether to extend the CBT system beyond 2030.
A key factor would be whether a solution can be found to overcome the technical difficulties of displaying fare deductions and card balance information at station gates and bus card readers.
