Sale of standard tickets at MRT stations to end by March 2022
Sale of standard tickets - limited use paper tickets - at MRT stations will be progressively phased out between January and March 2022.
This comes as most commuters are already using stored value cards or account-based ticketing such as contactless bank cards.
Standard tickets were introduced to allow commuters to pay for their ride when the MRT system began operations in 1987, but now fewer than one in 1,000 trips are paid using these tickets, according to the Land Transport Authority (LTA) in August.
The LTA said on Friday (Dec 3) that the move will start with the Thomson-East Coast and Downtown lines from Jan 10.
This will be followed by the Circle and North East lines on Feb 10, and the North-South and East-West lines on March 10.
The LTA has also reduced the minimum top-up amount for stored value cards such as ez-link cards at ticketing machines to $2, down from $10 for adults and $5 for student concession cards.
"This will allow commuters who have limited cash on hand to top up, continue their journeys and enjoy the cost savings," said the LTA.
The move to phase out standard tickets - purchased for single or return trips - because of low usage was announced earlier in August.
The LTA said stored value cards and account-based ticketing options offer commuters more savings and convenience.
In preparation for the phasing out of standard tickets, LTA conducted pilots earlier this year at some MRT stations where the sale was temporarily halted.
Responding to queries from The Straits Times, an LTA spokesman said the sale of standard tickets at general ticketing machines at Farrer Park and Lavender MRT stations was temporarily suspended for a day on Aug 31, and at all stations on the Thomson-East Coast Line for a week starting on Nov 15.
This was to enable the rail operators, LTA and TransitLink to refine standard operating procedures for the actual phase out, and gather information on commuters' standard ticket use, she said.
"Through these trials, we found that those who were still using standard tickets generally had access to alternative payment modes such as contactless bank cards, mobile wallets and ez-link cards," the LTA noted.
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