Where's the benefit?

[makapaaa]

<TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%"><TBODY><TR>Oct 5, 2009
SWITCHING EZ-LINK CARDS
</TR><!-- headline one : start --><TR>Where's the benefit?
</TR><!-- headline one : end --><!-- show image if available --></TBODY></TABLE>




<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->EZ-LINK has spared no effort to promote its new Cepas ez-link card. But I am not sure if convenience and lower cost to the consumer were what it had in mind. Consider these:

Under the Contactless e-Purse Application Standard (Cepas) card - which EZ-Link dubs EZ-Reload - the cardholder must send a written application, pay a one-off application fee (with a waiver thrown in until February) and wait 21 days for the application to be approved.

Worse, the Cepas cardholder incurs a fee each time the card is topped up (ironically dubbed a 'convenience fee' by EZ-Link).
Compare these with the previous arrangement where the ez-link cardholder could apply for Giro at a general ticketing machine and get instant approval.
I cannot help but wonder why we are switching to something that seems technologically more primitive.
I am not sure the new features are worthwhile either. According to the EZ-Link website:

A Cepas card can be used for Electronic Road Pricing payment with the next-generation in-vehicle unit (IU). Does one expect a motorist to fish out the Cepas card from his IU so he can use it on the MRT?

It allows a maximum stored value of $500. Who would want to put in that much?

It can be used for non-transit payments. With most shops accepting credit cards and Nets, the benefit of an additional payment option is marginal.

It retains full value with no need to pay a deposit. My understanding is that one cannot take a ride if the stored value falls below $3, so what difference does it make?
Looking at all these features, I cannot help but conclude that the switch to the Cepas card is solely commercially driven. It is disappointing that EZ-Link charges a fee to reload. I understand EZ-Link incurs a bank charge in the process, but which business does not incur a charge for customers paying by Nets or credit card? Employers incur Giro fees to pay salaries into employees' accounts by direct debit, but does any firm recover the cost from its employees?
The new Cepas card seems to be a step backwards rather than forwards.
Kwong Hui Hen

 

[SamuelStalin]

It allows a maximum stored value of $500. Who would want to put in that much?

LOL it would take a few years of diehard public transport to finish it all. Long-term planning indeed LOL

 

[singveld]

i dun really see what is the goddamn great about the new ezlink card than the old one.

there must be some goddamn PAP dogs that PAP trying to feed.

this is how jobs are created in singapore.

you keep changing the pathment,keep upgrading, keep changing this and that, for no reason, the good is job are created or kept.

the bad is money are wasted.

 

[JinGanKor]

i dun really see what is the goddamn great about the new ezlink card than the old one.

there must be some goddamn PAP dogs that PAP trying to feed.

this is how jobs are created in singapore.

you keep changing the pathment,keep upgrading, keep changing this and that, for no reason, the good is job are created or kept.

the bad is money are wasted.

the great thing about this card is they spend $100m to develop it, if I am not wrong.

At that time i was very shock to see why would any company spend so much on a card that has no significant advantage in terms of usage. If it is a private company, it would have closed down.

Most people i know of, those who drive, has cash card and no link card. Those who don't drive, has link card and no cash card.

By combining both of them does not really help or save 1 card slot in your wallet, at least for most people it doesn't.