Archive - Tue, 8 Sep 2009

Isn’t the $3 deposit on each card enough to offset costs incurred in Giro service?
Letter from Laremy Lee

I REFER to “EZ-Reload: Convenience, peace of mind” (Sept 7).

I acknowledge that there might be processing costs incurred in the provision of the EZ-Reload by Giro service which the company might need to cover. However, this raises two questions.

1. According to the EZ-Link website, there are more than 8 million card-based transactions daily.Aren’t EZ-Link’s overall profits based on this volume of users enough to cover said processing costs of the Giro service?
2. At the same time, EZ-Link users currently need to have a $3 minimum balance on their cards before they can travel.The EZ-Link website also states that it has issued 10 million cards so far. This adds up to about $30 million of latent cash. Doesn’t the interest on this already cover the processing costs?

Using the EZ-Link system is one of only two payment options offered to commuters. In light of this fact, I feel that EZ-Link should consider absorbing the processing costs for the EZ-Reload by Giro so as to reward its customers for their loyalty to the company.

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Please be reminded (or at least be aware) that the tone I have adopted in the last paragraph is one of irony.