I’m sure many of you Malaysians travel to Singapore on a frequent basis. What’s most inconvenient is probably not the travelling, but the exchanging of currency each time round, or the switching of transport cards for each country. But what if I told you that you don’t have to do that anymore? What if I told you that you can use just ONE transport card for both countries?
Yes, it’s true! That’s because Touch ‘N Go Sdn Bhd (TNG) will be collaborating with Singapore’s EZ-Link Pte Ltd to create a transport card that will function in both countries. That’s awesome!
Source: The Star
The dual-currency card will be called the Combi Card which the two companies agreed to co-develop when they signed a Memorandum of Understanding back in July 2017. They’ve been working on it ever since and will be expecting to launch it in the fourth quarter of this year, The Star reported.
This announcement comes after it was cited in the joint statement by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad following their Leaders’ Retreat in Putrajaya on Tuesday (9 April).
According to a statement issued by both companies, the Combi Card will securely host electronic wallets from both Touch ‘N Go and EZ-Link which will enable users to pay for public transportation on both sides of the causeway. This will also be the first card in South-east Asia for electronic wallets from two countries, according to the Straits Times.
Source: Kompas.com
How the Combi Card works is that the Singdollar and Ringgit will be stored separately, which means that if the Singdollar balance is empty, users will not be able to use the card’s ringgit stored value to make Singdollar payments. This applies to the ringgit as well.
How card top-ups can be done and other details will be announced later.
In the future, the two companies have plans to expand the card’s use by allowing users to make payments for shopping and dining in Malaysia and Singapore, but for now, users can only use it to pay for electronic road pricing in Singapore, highway tolls in Malaysia and parking in either countries.
Source: Straits Times
EZ-Link CEO Nicholas Lee said that this “will be a milestone in EZ-Link’s efforts to continuously innovate to transform people’s lives with technology”, while Touch ‘n Go chief executive Syahrunizam Tan Sri Samsudin said:
“This synergy between Touch ‘n Go and EZ-Link to create a dual-currency cross-border Combi Card will undoubtedly make daily transactions fuss-free for Malaysian and Singaporean consumers with faster, simpler and more secure payment options.”
Source: The Star
Currently, Touch ‘N Go has over 23 million active cards in circulation while EZ-Link has issued approximately 30 million cards.
For more information about the new Combi Card, visit www.ezlink.com.sg or www.touchngo.com.my.
Kudos to the people who make our lives easier with their amazing ideas and inventions! What do you think about the Combi Card? Would you use it? Let us know in the comments below.
Also read: You Can Now Get the RFID Sticker for Your Car for Free By Walking in Any of These 9 Centres
