The Singapore Land Transport Authority (LTA) will be piloting a new ticketing system in the fourth quarter of 2016 that will allow passengers to use EMV (Europay, MasterCard and Visa) contactless debit or credit cards for fare payments on LTA bus and train services, with the fare being charged directly to their account.
LTA’s Chief Executive Officer Chew Men Leong explained that “account-based ticketing is a transit fare collection system that will enable commuters to use contactless debit or credit cards for fare payments without the need for upfront top-ups.”
The software of all card readers in stations and on buses will be upgraded in the coming months to accept contactless EMV cards, ready for the pilot. The exact scale of the pilot will be revealed at a later date.
Apple Pay is expected to debut in Singapore later this year, but will require merchants to upgrade to new Near Field Communication (NFC) contactless card readers in order for users to tap their phones and pay.
Samsung Pay will also make its debut in Singapore this year, allowing users to tap their phones and pay at almost all retail outlets that accept credit cards, without requiring any hardware upgrade.
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