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This article is outdated.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
| Card | Earn Rate | Apply | Conditions | Monthly Limit |
| Revolut | 20% | Apply | – Top up $100 via bank transfer – Until 31st December 2021 | $10 cashback |
| Maybank Family and Friends | 8% | Apply | – Minimum spend of $800 each month (across all spend) – Transport category selected | $25 cashback |
| DBS LiveFresh | 10%* | Apply | – Minimum spend of $600 each month (across all spend) – Until 31st December 2021 | $35 cashback |
| UOB EVOL | 8%* | Apply | – Minimum spend of $600 each month (across all spend) – Mobile wallet only (e.g. Apple Pay) | $20 cashback |
| StanChart Smart Card | 6% | Apply | – No minimum spend! – Conversion in blocks of 3,200 Points for $10 | $45 cashback |
| OCBC FRANK | 6% | Apply | – Minimum spend of $600 each month (across all spend) – Mobile wallet only (e.g. Apple Pay) | $25 cashback |
| Citi SMRT Card | 5% (+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 |
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.
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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
| Card | Earn Rate | Apply | Conditions | Monthly Limit |
| StanChart Smart Card | 5.568 mpd | Apply | – | $750 spend |
| UOB Lady’s Solitaire | 4 mpd | Check back soon | Transport category selected | $3,000 spend |
| UOB Lady’s Card | 4 mpd | Apply | Transport category selected | $1,000 spend |
| Maybank Horizon Visa | 3.2 mpd | Apply | Minimum spend of $300 each month (across all spend) | $4,286 spend |
| KrisFlyer UOB Credit Card | 3 mpd | Apply | Minimum spend of $300 on SIA | Unlimited |
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!
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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.
Literally the top recommendation in this article is Revolut, which has no min spend requirement.