Best Cards to Use For Public Transportation 2021 Edition

This article is outdated. Please refer to this latest article for the best cards to use for public transportation.

Update 14/11/2021: included StanChart Smart Card

Work-from-home may be the default, but we’re still free to move about… for now. Here are the best cards you can use to get the most rewards from your public transportation rides.

You can just tap your credit card against the card readers of buses and trains now thanks to SimplyGO with no registration required. To track your transactions and make claims for fare errors, you can opt to link your card with their portal.

For more on each card’s sign-up promo, head over to sethisfy.com/cards for details.

Cashback

CardEarn RateApplyConditionsMonthly Limit
Revolut20%Apply– Top up $100 via bank transfer
– Until 31st December 2021
$10 cashback
Maybank Family and Friends8%Apply– Minimum spend of $800 each month (across all spend)
– Transport category selected
$25 cashback
DBS LiveFresh10%*Apply– Minimum spend of $600 each month (across all spend)
– Until 31st December 2021
$35 cashback
UOB EVOL8%*Apply– Minimum spend of $600 each month (across all spend)
– Mobile wallet only (e.g. Apple Pay)
$20 cashback
StanChart Smart Card6%Apply– No minimum spend!
– Conversion in blocks of 3,200 Points for $10
$45
cashback
OCBC FRANK6%Apply– Minimum spend of $600 each month (across all spend)
– Mobile wallet only (e.g. Apple Pay)
$25 cashback
Citi SMRT Card5% (+1.1%)Apply– Minimum spend of $500 each month (across all spend)
– Top up to EZ-link card for additional 1.1% rebate
$600 cashback
*rate is affected by cashback limit

Revolut is the absolute best card to use now for public transportation, pandemic or not. While the cap of $10 cashback may be relatively low for some, it is good for $50 worth of fares which may just make sense given how we would tend to travel less these days.

Seth
Seth

Want S$145 worth of free shares and cash credits? Try out CGS-CIMB’s ProsperUs trading app today!

Subscribe to the Telegram for more great deals and updates.

You may, however, wish to use other cashback cards as your public transportation card to clock spend for the monthly minimum spend. 6% to 10% may be low compared to 20%, but if it helps reach your minimum spending for UOB EVOL, OCBC FRANK, or DBS LiveFresh, it may be more valuable since you unlock a higher earn rate for all other spend.

If you prefer to use your EZ-Link card, the Citi SMRT Card is the one rare card that gives you its high cashback rate on EZ-Link top-ups. You can then earn rewards on EZ-Link’s reward programme which is roughly another 1.1% rebate.

Miles

CardEarn RateApplyConditionsMonthly Limit
StanChart Smart Card5.568 mpdApply$750 spend
UOB Lady’s Solitaire4 mpdCheck back soonTransport category selected$3,000 spend
UOB Lady’s Card4 mpdApplyTransport category selected$1,000 spend
Maybank Horizon Visa3.2 mpdApplyMinimum spend of $300 each month (across all spend)$4,286 spend
KrisFlyer UOB Credit Card3 mpdApplyMinimum spend of $300 on SIAUnlimited

Mile cards are quite abysmal for public transportation. At the risk of over-generalising, I suppose if you have a taste for business class flights, you probably aren’t taking much public transport.

Did I miss any card?

What do you use for public transportation? If I left out any card for this category of spend, let me know!

Keep up to date on the best cashback/mile cards, financial products, attractive deals, and more tips to maximise your financial wellbeing by subscribing to my Telegram channel.

Subscribe to the channel, then join the group chat. You would often benefit from the tips shared exclusively in the group chat!

Disclaimer: I may receive an affiliate/referral fee when you sign up for services/products on this site, and such fees keep the site running. I would only recommend services/products I would personally use or recommend to my own friends and family, but I do not provide any warranty or guarantee for the quality of these services/products. Thank you for supporting my site!

Please exercise due diligence when signing up for any service/product as I will not be liable for any personal loss, financial or otherwise. Content published here are my sole views and personal opnion, and none of the information here constitutes personal financial advice nor represents the views of my employer(s).

2 thoughts on “Best Cards to Use For Public Transportation 2021 Edition

  1. How about including cards with no minimum spend requirements as well for completeness? Not everyone spends >$500 on credit cards monthly but an extra 1-2% cashback on transport would still be nice.

    1. Literally the top recommendation in this article is Revolut, which has no min spend requirement.

Leave a Reply

%d bloggers like this: