On Tue, 02 Feb 2010 04:35:23 -0800, ticketyboo wrote:


Nope - 100% smart card. There are vending machines that take the
'single trip' cards back and refund the card deposit.

I wonder what proportion of those cards are surrendered.

Overall, Singapore is a small and disciplined country (really a city
state)...

The locals all have Ezlink cards, the single use refundable cards are
really intended for visitors. I would image a significant portion get
souvenired or just tossed out when the traveller gets home and finds it
still in one of their pockets.

Ezlink did once publish a study on the usage of their cards, which noted
that a larger than expected number of cards had been issued that simply
disappeared from the system. This was a source of concern as in the early
days they were subsidising the cost of the cards. Two of those missing
cards would have been those held by my wife and I. Only those reappear in
the system every 12 months or so as we transit their city. :-)