<TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%"><TBODY><TR>Where to top up new ez-link cards for free
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<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->WE THANK Mr Chong Foo Sin for his letter, 'How now?' (Oct 15), which questioned the justification for EZ-Link to charge a convenience fee for auto top-ups. Due to the termination of the TransitLink top-up on Oct 1 for the old ez-link card, banks require cardholders to reapply for the Giro service. We are working to further streamline and improve the process and to reduce the waiting time, and have put in additional resources.
For commuters who do not wish to pay the top-up fee of 25 cents, free top-up channels will continue to be available within the transit areas of MRT stations and bus interchanges, including the general ticketing machines, add-value machines, passenger service centres and ticket offices. Free top-ups elsewhere are at 900 DBS/POSB ATMs and more than 200 AXS D-Pay stations.
The automatic Giro top-up facility is a value-added service, to give commuters an option that provides added convenience. In the past, TransitLink offered automatic Giro top-ups at no charge to commuters. This was not because the top-ups were free, but because the cost was absorbed by TransitLink, which is jointly owned by the two public transport operators - SMRT and SBS Transit.
They were willing to absorb the cost because the old cards were mainly used on buses and trains. However, this is not possible now as the new Cepas-compliant cards issued by EZ-Link can also be used in private vehicles for Electronic Road Pricing, retail shops, libraries and many other places unrelated to public transport.
Gregory Gerald Danker
Vice-President, Marketing & Communications
EZ-Link Pte Ltd
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<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->WE THANK Mr Chong Foo Sin for his letter, 'How now?' (Oct 15), which questioned the justification for EZ-Link to charge a convenience fee for auto top-ups. Due to the termination of the TransitLink top-up on Oct 1 for the old ez-link card, banks require cardholders to reapply for the Giro service. We are working to further streamline and improve the process and to reduce the waiting time, and have put in additional resources.
For commuters who do not wish to pay the top-up fee of 25 cents, free top-up channels will continue to be available within the transit areas of MRT stations and bus interchanges, including the general ticketing machines, add-value machines, passenger service centres and ticket offices. Free top-ups elsewhere are at 900 DBS/POSB ATMs and more than 200 AXS D-Pay stations.
The automatic Giro top-up facility is a value-added service, to give commuters an option that provides added convenience. In the past, TransitLink offered automatic Giro top-ups at no charge to commuters. This was not because the top-ups were free, but because the cost was absorbed by TransitLink, which is jointly owned by the two public transport operators - SMRT and SBS Transit.
They were willing to absorb the cost because the old cards were mainly used on buses and trains. However, this is not possible now as the new Cepas-compliant cards issued by EZ-Link can also be used in private vehicles for Electronic Road Pricing, retail shops, libraries and many other places unrelated to public transport.
Gregory Gerald Danker
Vice-President, Marketing & Communications
EZ-Link Pte Ltd
