What you don't know about EZ-Link card

Do you know that:

• The EZ-Link card has a 5-year warranty upon purchase, so the card will expire in 5 years upon purchase


• During warranty, the card can be replaced FOC (free-of-charge), but after warranty, will require non-refundable payment of $5 for a replacement card


• In every top-up, the 5-years expiry is extended, but subjected to a maximum expiry extension of 2 years (5+2yrs). Which means that the card can only be used for a maximum of 7 years, after which it will expire and become invalidated

What you should do:

• Check your card expiry (use the General Ticketing Machine, note whether card still under warranty or not)


• If still under 5-year warranty, but expiring soon, better get a new FREE replacement soonest


• Card can only be replaced when it cannot be read by system - so better use the card without card holder or protective holder, so that it will turn old or unreadable within 5 years, and get a new card FREE

You should know that:

• The old card has deposit requirement of $3 (i.e. 'dead' cash not utilised)


• The new card has deposit requirement of $5 (more 'dead' cash)


• Transport operators has excess millions of dollars from all the EZLink cards deposit. Investment of these millions of dollars can result in even more capital gains in the operators' profit

So... DO NOT pay $5 for a new card every 5-7 years for SMRT and SBS Transit shares to go up every year!!!