'Takes courage to reverse the decision': Ho Ching salutes the authorities for 'having guts' to shelve SimplyGo

Ho Ching has given a virtual salute to the authorities for pulling the plug on the move to replace older public transport payment cards with SimplyGo.

Taking to Facebook on Friday (Jan 26), the wife of Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong praised the "leadership" for "having the guts to listen and take the decision".

She referenced Land Transport Authority's (LTA) earlier explanation that about two in three adult fare transactions on public transport are currently made using either account-based ticketing (ABT) cards like SimplyGo and bank cards.

"When one-third are still on the stored value card, it sounds like a minority," Ho said. "But this minority takes over a million trips a day. That is a lot of user experience and needs that shouldn't be overlooked."

On Monday (Jan 22), Transport Minister Chee Hong Tat said that holders of older adult ez-link cards that are not on SimplyGo will no longer have to update their cards by June 1 to pay for public transport.

This comes after concerns from some commuters who want to see their fare deductions and card balances when they tap out at fare gates and bus card readers.

Commenting on the reversal, Ho said that it "says something" about the user experience design of SimplyGo.

"And secondly in the rush to sunset the older system without regard to user needs and confidence," she added. "Takes courage to reverse the decision. So I salute those with the courage to do so."

Ho's post has garnered over 770 reactions and 150 comments.

In the comments, several netizens agreed with Ho's assessment.

"It's about taking accountability and making things better," one of them said.

"Very often we question why people make mistakes. Not many can appreciate the courage to own the mistake and change for the better," another said.

In his Facebook post, Chee said he has tasked LTA to study ways to enhance the features and improve the user experience for ABT cards.

"In particular possible solutions for ABT cards to display fare deductions and stored value card balances at fare gates and bus card readers," he added.

ALSO READ: Shelving of SimplyGo plan: Observers say LTA was unprepared, LTA says trial was positive

chinshijie@asiaone.com