CEPAS, the Specification for Contactless e-Purse Application, is a

Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...

an specification for an

electronic money Digital currency (digital money, electronic money or electronic currency) is any currency, money, or money-like asset that is primarily managed, stored or exchanged on digital computer systems, especially over the internet. Types of digital cu ...

smart card A smart card (SC), chip card, or integrated circuit card (ICC or IC card), is a card used to control access to a resource. It is typically a plastic credit card-sized card with an Embedded system, embedded integrated circuit (IC) chip. Many smart ...

. The specification was prepared by the Cards and Personnel Identification Technical Committee (CPITC), under the purview of the IT Standard Committee of Singapore (ITSCS). It has been gazetted as Singapore Standard SS 518 by

Enterprise Singapore Enterprise Singapore (EnterpriseSG) is a government board formed on 1 April 2018 to support the development of Singapore's small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), upgrade their capabilities, foster innovation, support transformation, and pro ...

. CEPAS has been deployed island-wide, replacing the previous original

EZ-Link The EZ-Link card is a rechargeable contactless smart card and electronic money system that is primarily used as a payment method for public transport such as bus and rail lines in Singapore. A standard EZ-Link card is a ISO/IEC 7810, credit-ca ...

card effective 1 October 2009.

Function

The CEPAS provides the command sets and data bytes that can be used for contactless e-purse applications and focuses on the

debit Debits and credits in double-entry bookkeeping are entries made in account ledgers to record changes in value resulting from business transactions. A debit entry in an account represents a transfer of value ''to'' that account, and a cred ...

and

credit Credit (from Latin verb ''credit'', meaning "one believes") is the trust which allows one party to provide money or resources to another party wherein the second party does not reimburse the first party immediately (thereby generating a debt) ...

areas. The most recent version of the standard is CEPAS 3.0, which adds support for account-based ticketing with a token held on the CEPAS card. The standard allows for the interoperability of multi-purpose stored value (MPSV) card payment schemes from different card issuers and system operators.

Background

CEPAS is spearheaded by the

Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore The Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) is a statutory board under the Singapore Ministry of Digital Development and Information (MDDI). History The Telecommunication Authority of Singapore (TAS) was the statutory board that acted ...

(IDA), and is one of the key next generation e-payment initiatives under Singapore's iN2015 infocomm masterplan led by IDA. The vision of CEPAS is for Singaporeans to have a single MPSV card for use all around Singapore for micro-payments. This includes transit (bus, MRT,

LRT Light rail (or light rail transit, abbreviated to LRT) is a form of passenger urban rail transit that uses rolling stock derived from tram technology National Conference of the Transportation Research Board while also having some features from ...

taxi A taxi, also known as a taxicab or simply a cab, is a type of vehicle for hire with a Driving, driver, used by a single passenger or small group of passengers, often for a non-shared ride. A taxicab conveys passengers between locations of thei ...

, motoring ( ERP, parking), retail, and other services. CEPAS is a result of close collaboration by IDA with different industry players and the

Land Transport Authority The Land Transport Authority (LTA) is a Statutory boards of the Singapore Government, statutory board under the Ministry of Transport (Singapore), Ministry of Transport of the Government of Singapore. History Incorporation The Land Transport Au ...

(LTA). The other key collaborators are the Cards & Personal Identification Technical Committee (CPITC) under the Singapore IT Standards Committee (ITSC),

Network for Electronic Transfers Network for Electronic Transfers, colloquially known as NETS, is a Singaporean electronic payment service provider. Founded in 1986 by a consortium of local banks, it aims to establish the debit network and drive the adoption of electronic pay ...

(NETS) and EZ-Link Pte Ltd (EZ-Link). SPRING Singapore published CEPAS as SS 518 and was officially launched during the CEPAS Launch & Next Generation e-Payment seminar on 27 June 2006, held at

Suntec Singapore International Convention and Exhibition Centre Suntec City is a major mixed-use development located in Marina Centre, a subzone of the Downtown Core in Singapore, which combines a shopping mall, office buildings, and a convention centre. Construction began on 18 January 1992 and was comple ...

Current and future payment landscape

The current micro-payment landscape in Singapore is fragmented, with different standards, and is dominated by two main players: NETS and EZ-Link. EZ-Link controls the transit space, NETS controls the motoring (ERP, parking) space, Visa, MasterCard, and AMEX control the retail space. NETS also dominates the retail space, with EZ-Link having a limited presence. Currently, cards and readers from both providers cannot interoperate, resulting in consumers holding different cards for payment of various services and goods. CEPAS aims to open and level the micro-payment playing field. For example, NETS and credit/debit card holders will be able to use their cards to pay for transit, while EZ-Link card holders will be able to use their cards for retail and motoring payments.

Transaction processing methods

Card-based offline debit

The CEPAS card-based EZ-Link and NETS FlashPay cards released on 29 December 2008 operate as offline cards, intended for farecards in

transit system Public transport (also known as public transit, mass transit, or simply transit) are forms of transport available to the general public. It typically uses a fixed schedule, route and charges a fixed fare. There is no rigid definition of whic ...

s and

micropayments A micropayment is a financial transaction involving a very small sum of money and usually one that occurs online. A number of micropayment systems were proposed and developed in the mid-to-late 1990s, all of which were ultimately unsuccessful. A s ...

in retail. As transactions are processed offline without having to maintain an active network connection to the bank for processing, lower transaction fees are incurred compared to debit and credit cards.

Account-based online debit

In 2016, the Land Transport Authority began the account-based ticketing trial to expand the range of e-payment options and eliminate the need for top-ups in transit. With that, the CEPAS version was changed to 3.0 and SeP to 2.0. It allowed credit cards (Visa, Mastercard) and mobile wallets (Apple Pay, Fitbit Pay, Garmin Pay, Google Pay, Samsung Pay) to be used in the transit system, in addition to the existing CEPAS EZ-Link and NETS FlashPay cards. In September 2020, LTA began a trial to expand the account-based ticketing system to CEPAS cards, which were conventionally based on a card-based ticketing system. The reason given for pushing the account-based ticketing system was that it removed the need for physical trips to top-up machines. As the card information is stored on a central server under account-based ticketing, access to travel history and card top-ups can be done remotely through mobile apps, without needing the card to be physically present. The account-based EZ-Link Card was launched in January 2021, and the account-based NETS Prepaid Card was launched in November 2022. These account-based cards replaced the former EZ-Link and NETS FlashPay cards that supported card-based ticketing. Transactions using account-based cards are processed in the backend. Hence commuters are unable to see their fare deduction and card value balance at MRT fare gates and bus readers. On 10 January 2024, LTA announced that EZ-Link adult cards, which have not yet been upgraded to SimplyGo and NETS FlashPay cards, will no longer be accepted for public transport fare payment from 1 June 2024 due to the phasing out of the legacy card-based ticketing system. This decision was reversed because the commuters were concerned with card balance and fare displays. The ERP acceptance was not taken into consideration because of the car-lite society.

Criticisms

There has been some criticism by the public that the auto-top-up service by GIRO for the new CEPAS card will require an administration fee for activation as well as for each top-up. In contrast, auto-top-up for the original EZ-Link card was free. Additionally, the public has complained that the application process for this service is now more complicated compared to the relatively easier process for the original version. LTA's announcement on 10 January 2024 about the discontinuation of the card-based ticketing EZ-Link & NETS FlashPay Cards and mandatory transition to the account-based ticketing SimplyGo EZ-Link & NETS Prepaid Cards drew a negative reception from the public. The concerns raised included the inability to view fares and card balances at the gantry. The public felt that the SimplyGo user experience for stored-value cards is unnecessarily complicated and over-reliant on mobile apps, which creates inconveniences for the elderly, children, and less tech-savvy demographics of the population. The authorities reversed the decision on 22 January 2024, and existing EZ-Link & NETS FlashPay cards can continue to be used after 1 June 2024.

Gallery

File:FlashPay (back).jpg, Back of a CEPAS NETS FlashPay card

References

External links

Specification for Contactless ePurse Application (CEPAS)
{{Mass Rapid Transit (Singapore) Science and technology in Singapore Mass Rapid Transit (Singapore)