Come June 1 of this year when the legacy public transport fare cards like the non-upgradable EZ-Link Cards and NETS FlashPay Cards will be phased out in favor of SimplyGo EZ-Link Cards, NETS Prepaid Cards & Bank Cards. Some of the changes for the SimplyGo system had already caused an uproar. Commuters who used the new app and system were disgruntled over the countless amounts of problems they encountered and some of them could be tracked by their fellow family members with their SimplyGo fare cards linked to said members' accounts with the latter being problematic.
For one, it is said to be going backwards in terms of technological transition. You won't be able to see the charge when you tap the SimplyGo fare card on both the Entry and Exit of the bus as opposed to tapping the cards that will be phased out. Instead, the reader will display Bank Card and SimplyGo. Another difference is the remote top-up of the SimpleGo fare cards using the app as opposed to proceeding to the General Ticketing Machine for topping up your fare cards.
Then, there are some problems like the only use left for legacy EZ-Link cards is for motoring and SimplyGo EZ-Link cards can be used for retail and public transport but not motoring. Sadly, other countries have their public transport fare cards that support all three services: Retail, Public Transport and Motoring. Another problem is the fact that the app can be used to track the other family members' travel. There was a news of a woman whose travel history had been tracked by her father as her SimplyGo EZ-Link card was linked to her father's account. Her workaround was that she used her bank card as a different SimplyGo compatible fare card for travel. There is no excuse for a commuter to get their travels tracked by their fellow family members.
Luckily, a smartphone isn't required but rather, it's one of the choices. With the app, you can check your travel history, do remote top-ups, remotely disable a lost card, etc. What is inexcusable however, is the tracking of other commuter's travel history, poor execution of the app and system in which they're plagued with technical issues, anyone defending the system that's currently in problematic state, etc.
There are statements from a blog post someone wrote about the system penalizing anyone financially who criticizes it by dropping the daily cap to none so that travels are not available but I don't know if that is true or not. For this blog post, the news articles were referred to in the writing of it to ensure that I got the common information.
References:
- https://vulcanpost.com/849527/uproar-about-simplygo-isnt-about-lack-of-tech-savvy-its-about-friction-in-user-experience/
- https://www.msn.com/en-sg/entertainment/news/simplygo-is-creepy-woman-says-after-finding-out-her-dad-can-track-her-movements/ar-AA1n2aWi
