Transport Minister Chee Hong Tat has apologised to commuters for the recently announced transition to phase out older ez-link and Nets FlashPay cards. Speaking to the media on Jan 26, he said that the Land Transport Authority had “underestimated” the “strong preference” of some commuters who want to keep the older payment card system’s feature of viewing fare deductions and card balances at fare gates and card readers. This apology came after public outcry from commuters, following the Jan 9 announcement to retire the older card-based ticketing system by June.