Bus card-reader system baffles some ez-link commuters (and me)

Some bus commuters using their ez-link cards have expressed frustration when they found that card-readers on the buses do not work the way they want to. One commuter said: "Something (is) wrong with the system." Another commuter said she was behind the first commuter when she heard the driver telling them to wait until the door opens. The problem is because the readers would only read the card when the bus reaches a stop and the doors open. It is part of a new Vehicle Location System being tested on 200 SBS Transit buses. Currently, drivers manually update fare-stages but mistakes can happen, which means commuters under or over-pay. The new system uses a Global Positioning System satellite technology, which tracks the bus and automatically updates the fare stages accurately. However, various factors like tunnels can affect the reading. As a back-up measure, the bus system also has data on the distance from one bus stop to the next. Mr Yap Kim San, Chief Captain of SBS Transit, said: "With this system, it will help the driver concentrate more on the driving, and we don't have to update the fare-stage, sometimes we might forget." But commuters said more public education were needed and they do not like the idea of waiting till the doors open. One commuter said: "Some of them they tap and there's no response, so what happen is when the door open, they just rush down." Another commuter said: "If there's a huge crowd, then everybody have to tap, tap, tap, very long." But there's a reason behind this. Because commuters cannot tap their cards in-between bus-stops, SBS Transit said it reduced the opportunity for commuters who try to cheat the system. There are some commuters who tap the exit-readers way before they reach their bus-stop just to pay less fare. SBS Transit said the new system would be installed in all its buses by March, while TIBS may have similar tests on its buses. [http://sg.news.yahoo.com/021213/5/singapore26981.html]