The Land Transport Authority (LTA) has warned payment service provider Nets following investigations of Outram Park MRT station incident where a man was filmed while using his car to punch in and out over 40 times.
The incident took place on May 17 and the video, which is believed to be taken by another traveller, went viral on social media after it was uploaded on Facebook on May 18.
Later, when LTA was alerted to the case it said that they started their investigation on that incident. In a statement, the authority also confirmed that the incident arose from testing conducted by Nets as part of its SimplyGo trial.
In addition, LTA stated that "We have since warned Nets that their testing activities should not cause any disruption to transport operations."
As reported by The Straits Times, a spokesman for Nets said that they will work with LTA on the subsequent tests for the contactless cards on the public transportation system.
Even though many netizens had speculated that the unnamed man was violating the Travel Smart Rewards program, but LTA rejected the assumptions. They also explained the SimplyGo trial to Nets last December.
SimplyGo
LTA and TransitLink have partnered the various payment schemes to introduce contactless payments on trains and buses. SimplyGo enables the travellers to use their credit or debit cards with contactless function for fare payments.
There will be no need for upfront top-ups and your train and bus fares will be processed and charged to your credit or debit card bill.
In terms of the benefits, people would be able to enjoy the convenience of tracking your journey and fare history via the TransitLink SimplyGo Portal or TL SimplyGo mobile app. Other services on the Portal include submitting of travel claims and viewing of claim status.
For contactless credit and debit cardholders, there is no need for a separate transit card and no more top-ups are required.
