S'pore to get new-generation membership card

SINGAPORE--The People's Association (PA), EZ-Link and QB announced Tuesday, the first association membership card here to incorporate e-purse functions that conform to the country's new standard for micropayments.

The Passion ez-link Card enables payment of transit bus and train services, retail purchases and motoring charges such as Singapore's Electronic Road Pricing (ERP) road toll and the Electronic Parking System (EPS) charges. Also, SMRT Taxis will be the first cab service in Singapore to provide passengers this option for cashless payment, the partners said in a press statement.

Tan Boon Huat, chief executive director of PA, told ZDNet Asia, the privilege card will be made available from November.

Jeremy Tan, group managing director of QB, said the card complies with Contactless e-Purse Applications (Cepas), a national standard for micropayment cards in Singapore.

Additional benefits of the card include discounts and reward points when cardholders make payments with their cards at transit and retail merchants, he added.

Based in Singapore, Konrad Foo is an intern with ZDNet Asia.