Update On Replacement Of Expired Senior Concession Cards By TransitLink
SINGAPORE, 05 February, 2014– We refer to the Shin Min Daily News article “Only 5 locations island wide available for the replacement of expired Senior Citizen Concession Cards, 5 February 2014” and would like to take this opportunity to provide an update on the situation.
2 Some 320,000 Senior Citizen (SC) concession cards from the initial batch of CEPAS cards issued in 2009 were scheduled to expire from 30 January 2014. As these cards were still reliable, LTA as the CEPAS concession card issuer worked with TransitLink (TL) to automatically extend their validity when the SC does a top-up at any TL Add Value Machine (AVM), TL Ticket Office (TO), General Ticketing Machines (GTM) or the Passenger Service Centres (PSC). By end-Dec 2013, more than 230,000 SC concession cards have had their validity dates extended. In January 2014, letters were sent to the remaining 90,000 SC concession card holders to ask them to present their cards for automatic extension at any TL AVM, TOs, Concession Card Replacement Office (CCRO), GTMs or PSCs before 30 Jan 2014. Those SCs who had presented their concession cards following the letter had the validity of the cards extended by one year. TransitLink will be working with LTA to have all concession cards that have been extended by one year replaced before the cards expire next year.
3 For the remaining SC cards that were not extended by 30 January, a replacement of the expired card is required as it cannot be reactivated. TL has seen an increase in the number of SC seeking replacement of their expired SC concession cards on 4 and 5 Feb 2014, as they did not manage to extend the validity of the cards before 30 Jan 2014. The concession card is replaced for free, and the SC need only pay a personalisation fee of $3. These replaced concession cards are valid for five years and not one year as reported in Shin Min Daily News.
4 TL has implemented several measures to assist SCs who need to replace their expired concession cards, such as enhancing its website and the 48 TL Ticket Offices island-wide to allow SCs to apply for a replacement of expired cards without having to visit a CCRO and have the new cards mailed to them within 5 working days. In additional, SCs can call TL’s Hotline at 1800-2255 663 where its customer service staff will assist SCs to apply for a replacement card on their behalf. The new cards will be mailed to them within 5 working days.
5 The long waiting times at the 6 CCROs[1] (and not 5 CCROs as reported in Shin Min Daily News) are not due to just SCs seeking replacement of concession cards, but also in part due to students who need to replace student concession cards lost or corrupted over the school holidays. TL has mobilised additional staff to help manage the queues at the 6 CCROs. TL staff are actively assisting SCs in the queue who do not need their concession cards immediately to register their particulars and have the new cards mailed to them within 5 working days. TL has also implemented a same day collection arrangement where SCs could register for a replacement card and return to collect their new concession cards after 3-4 hours instead of waiting in queue. However, many SCs still prefer to queue so as to obtain the replacement concession card on the spot.
6 TL would like to encourage SCs to apply for replacement cards online or at the other 48 TOs where the cards will be mailed to them within 5 working days. TL will continue to deploy additional staff to assist those who turn up at the CCROs to minimise the waiting time and inconvenience.
– END –
[1] The 6 CCROs are as follows a) Ang Mo Kio Bus Interchange b) Choa Chu Kang Bus Interchange c) Hougang Bus Interchange d) Jurong East Bus Interchange e) Pasir Ris Bus Interchange and f) Tiong Bahru MRT Station