SINGAPORE: The NETS cash card can now be used for contact-less payment at selected car-parks and petrol stations which are fitted with a new card reader.

The NETS "Wave and Go" combination card can either be inserted into the electronic pricing system reader at car-parks or now just waved pass the new contact-less reader.

The card takes less than one second to read, compared to inserting a card which takes one or two seconds.

At the moment, 4.5 million NETS cash cards are in circulation, including 400,000 cashless combination cards.

The contact-less system has been on trial for a year at a Tiong Bahru car park.

So far only two car-parks - at the NUS and NTU - have signed up for the new reader system, though the company expects more to do so.

"That's the reason we adopted a combi strategy, because for consumers who are not ready or for merchants who are not ready to accept the contact-less experience, they can continue to accept the card as it is," says Jocelyn Ang, General Manager, CashCard & Financial Transaction Processing, NETS.

NETS says the card reader is robust enough to withstand any fraud, as reported at some car parks recently.

"Ours is just the payment. So we will ensure that the card and the reader do authenticate clearly and that the money is deducted properly. That's always been our role," says Nancy Tan, Vice-President, CashCard & Financial Transaction Processing, NETS

The company is also branching out into new markets such as car-washes at petrol stations, convenience stores and supermarkets.

NETS is providing cashless payment at a total of seven Esso, SPC and Caltex petrol stations.

But the idea is to capture a bigger slice of the market. The company is currently in negotiations to provide cashless payment at as many of the 80 or so petrol station car washes in Singapore as possible.

And to make using the card easier, there will be the option of topping up online from the end of March, though customers must first buy a card reader at a cost of less than $40.

There are also plans to allow the use of cashcards to pay for items via the internet. - CNA/yy