The free replacement can be done at TransitLink offices, post offices and selected bus interchanges till Sept 30. Current ez-link cards will not be usable after that date.

The Land Transport Authority (LTA) said yesterday that it expects the replacement exercise involving eight million ez-link cards to take nine months.

With the deadline for replacing the cards set at the end of September, 'commuters are reminded that there is really no need to rush', said LTA's chief executive Yam Ah Mee.

The new smart card will be able to hold up to $500, up from $100 now.

Come end-March, its use will be extended to include payments for Electronic Road Pricing (ERP) charges.

That is also the month the second-generation in-vehicle units (IUs), which can read the cards, will be available in all new cars being sold.

Owners of older cars can opt to change their IUs but this is optional, since existing IUs can still use CashCards, which are unaffected by this exercise.

The new IUs have so far worked well in motorcycles, said the LTA yesterday.

By the end of the year, the new smart cards will also be the accepted payment mode in about 600 carparks here. More than 1,000 retail outlets will also get on board during the year.

When commuters exchange their cards, the remaining value on their current ones - including the $3 locked in as a deposit - will be transferred to their new cards. Students will get their new concession cards from their schools from next month, while senior citizens will receive theirs in the mail from the end of March.

Those who have signed up for top-ups of their existing cards to be billed to their credit cards, or to be paid for through Giro, should note that these two services for the new smart cards will be available only from Feb 27 and July 27 respectively. Commuters using either of these services are advised to hold off changing their cards till after these dates. They will need to re-apply for these services.

The improved ez-link card will have three competitors this year, which gives commuters a choice of which smart card to go for. The price of the card may even come down, said the LTA yesterday.

Network for Electronic Transfers (Nets) has already announced plans to launch its own card soon for a bite of the transit market, said to be worth $1.5 billion a year. The other two new players are unknown.

Ez-link said that, to keep its users, it will make its card useful for small purchases and offer loyalty schemes. For more information on card replacement, call LTA on 1800-225-5582, ez-link on 6496-8300 or TransitLink on 1800-2255-663.

mariaa@sph.com.sg

Doing the swop

WHAT you need to know about the exercise to replace existing ez-link cards with the new version: