By Staff
Thursday, October 05 2006 05:00 PM
URL: http://www.zdnetasia.com/news/communications/0,39044192,61957329,00.htm

SINGAPORE--IBM will begin development of a new smart card e-payment infrastructure for Singapore's mass transit network of trains and buses.

The Land Transport Authority (LTA) announced Tuesday that it had selected Big Blue to build the new payment system called Symphony for e-payment (e-Symphony), which will replace its current Enhanced Integrated Farecard System (EIFS).

When completed, the new e-payment system will be capable of handling about 10 million financial transactions per day--twice the capacity of the EIFS, LTA said in a statement.

e-Symphony will incorporate the Contactless E-Purse Application Standard (Cepas) which was introduced earlier this year to replace the existing Cashcard standard. The new standard will enable multiple suppliers to issue the contactless smart cards, which are currently issued only by EZ-link. The LTA said this could fuel competition among suppliers and in turn reduce the cost of smart cards to benefit users.

According to the LTA, the e-Symphony will be ready in time for the completion of the Circle Line, which, when fully operational, is expected to serve about 500,000 passengers.