EZ-Link was established by the Singapore Land Transport Authority in 2002 to pioneer the first large-scale contactless payment system for Singapore’s public transit network. To date, it has issued more than 40 million EZ-link cards, which can be used across all public transport systems in the country. 

Today, it is still the predominant public transit card in Singapore, making the “EZ-Link card” brand synonymous with public transport payments. EZ-Link cards are also used for shopping, dining, private transport, government services and community services at more than 30,000 acceptance points across the island. 

The partnership between EZ-Link and ThoughtWorks began in 2017 when EZ-Link embarked on its digital transformation journey to reinvent its services to enhance user experience and strengthen its capabilities for future business growth.

EZ-Link saw the potential to transform and become more than “just a transport card.” With payments making up only part of a commuter’s entire journey, the company wanted to transform the other stages of a customer’s travelling experience. Beyond that, EZ-Link was looking towards future business growth as well as international adoption of its e-payment service.

Together ThoughtWorks and EZ-Link created a roadmap of transformation that puts the user at the center of its ecosystem.

The multi year journey focused on building a unified mobile app and eWallet with integration to multiple payment platforms. This included Alipay, making the EZ-Link Wallet the first eWallet in Singapore to launch a global payments facility with Alipay. The mobile app consolidates all of EZ-Link’s payment services onto a digital platform, including viewing of transaction histories, top-ups, and auto top-up applications -, services that were previously only accessible through ticketing machines at train stations.

This partnership spans multiple geographies with the primary engineering teams based in China. Building strong alignment between the EZ-Link and ThoughtWorks teams early in the engagement and defining engineering practices using agile methodologies set the foundation for a successful partnership.