A standard EZ-Link card is a credit-card-sized stored-value contact-less smart-card that comes in a variety of colours, as well as limited edition designs.

[1] In March 2023, the Land Transport Authority announced plans to merge their subsidiaries TransitLink and EZ-Link into a single entity SimplyGo.

[3] Two further tests were made, with the scheme extending to frequent bus users on selected routes on an invitation basis.

[12] On 12 June 2024, EZ-Link acceptance is reenabled at Fairprice, with a slow rollout over a small number of outlets initially.

[14] In September 2018, the EZ-Link card became part of a unified cashless payment system rolled out at 500 hawker stalls across Singapore.

[15] In April 2019, EZ-Link announced it was working with Touch 'N Go to create a dual currency cross-border card for public transport.

The trial, which involved some 5,000 commuters, generated 1.7 million transactions and has confirmed that the system is ready for revenue service.

The following payment networks are supported by the EZ-Link Wallet: SimplyGo was launched in March 2019 for MasterCard users as a separate account-based ticketing system allowing commuters to pay their public transport fares using bank cards.

[33] When the system launched, Senior Parliamentary Secretary for Transport Baey Yam Keng said that SimplyGo was not intended to replace other payment methods such as EZ-Link.

[43] Many commuters expressed dissatisfaction with the change,[44] particularly the inability to ascertain the fares charged at the transaction points on buses and the MRT after their cards were upgraded to SimplyGo.

[43] When the issue was raised in 2023, the LTA explained that, as most of the SimplyGo features involve back-end processing, riders could not view their stored value card balance and deductions at MRT fare gates and bus readers.

[45] The LTA said that while it would be possible to implement the feature for SimplyGo users, it would take "a few more seconds" for the information from the backend to be displayed at the fare gates, and hence would slow down commuters who were entering or exiting.

The high transaction volume caused the SimplyGo system to become less stable and responsive, resulting in longer processing times and failed upgrades that lead to commuters' cards being invalidated.

[48] On 22 January, transport minister Chee Hong Tat announced that the LTA reversed their decision and decided to extend the use of the card-based system.

[50] The EZ-Link card operates on a radio frequency (RF) interface of 13.56 MHz at 212 kbit/s, with the potential for communication speeds in excess of 847 kbit/s.

It employs the Manchester bit coding scheme for noise tolerance against distance fluctuation between the card and the contactless reader, and implements the Triple DES algorithm for security.

[54] On 10 January 2024, LTA announced that EZ-Link adult cards which have not yet been upgraded to SimplyGo will no longer be accepted for public transport fare payment from 1 June 2024, due to phasing out of the legacy card-based ticketing system.

[55][56] The decision was reversed by the authorities on 22 January 2024 following significant backlash, and existing EZ-Link cards can continue to be used after 1 June 2024.

Commuters have to create an account and sign in to the SimplyGo website or app, to view their travel history and its related fares.✗ These account-based online debit cards are not compatible with ERP and carpark payments.