5 Best Credit Cards to Use on Public Transport with SimplyGo

When I have overseas friends visiting Singapore, they are pleasantly surprised by the fact that they can use their own credit card to pay for fares on our buses and trains—no ticket queues, no fumbling for change, no top-ups. The engine behind this? SimplyGo.

SimplyGo is a contactless payment system that lets you use your Mastercard, Visa, or NETS bank card to pay for bus and MRT fares. Unlike the traditional EZ-Link cards that you have to top up, SimplyGo automatically deducts fares from your debit account or adds them to your credit card bill.

Sure, you can still use SimplyGo EZ-Link, top-ups and all, but…why would you? Using your credit card with SimplyGo takes zero effort (you don’t even need to sign up for a SimplyGo account), and you can use your MRT/bus spending to earn more miles or cashback. Don’t underestimate your $2 MRT fare to the office—when you add up all your trips, you’ll probably find that you spend at least $100 a month on public transport. That’s $100 worth of spending on which you can earn rewards.

The next question is, which credit cards should you use with SimplyGo for your bus and MRT rides? There’s a plethora out there, and most cards actually exclude SimplyGo transactions from earning bonus rewards. The good news? We’ve done the hard work for you. Here are the top 5 credit cards to use on public transport in Singapore.

 

Guide to the 5 best credit cards in Singapore for SimplyGo

1. Summary: Best credit cards for SimplyGo
2. Best overall: Maybank Family & Friends Card
3. Best for low spenders: Citi SMRT Card
4. Best for high spenders: UOB One Card
5. Best for unlimited cashback: Standard Chartered Smart Credit Card
6. Best for miles chasers, and with $0 minimum spend: UOB Lady’s Card

 

Summary: Best credit cards for SimplyGo

Cashback credit card	Cashback rate on public transport (SimplyGo)	Minimum spend per month	Cashback cap
Maybank Family & Friends Card	8% (direct cashback—credited to your card account to offset next bill)	$800	$25/month (equivalent to $312.50 spend) shared with other transport spending
Citi SMRT Card	5% (in the form of  SMRT$)	$500	SMRT$600/year (equivalent to $12,000) across all cashback categories
UOB One Card	13.33% (8.33% after Enhanced Cashback ends on 31 Mar 2025)	$500	$217/month*
	13.33% (8.33% after Enhanced Cashback ends on 31 Mar 2025)	$1,000	$233/month*
	20% (10% after Enhanced Cashback ends on 31 Mar 2025)	$2,000	$267/month*
Standard Chartered Smart Credit Card	4% from now till 31 Mar 2025 (in the form of 360° Reward Points)	$0	Unlimited
	8% (in the form of 360° Reward Points)	$800	Unlimited
	10% (in the form of 360° Reward Points)	$1,500	Unlimited
UOB Lady’s Card	4 miles per dollar (earned as UNI$10 per $5)	$0	$1,000

*The UOB One Card splits its cashback into 3 types: Quarterly, Additional, and Enhanced. Quarterly Cashback is awarded as blocks of $50, $100, or $200 per quarter, while the Additional Cashback and Enhanced Cashback (till 31 Mar 2025) are capped at $100 per month. The numbers we’ve given above are averaged out for a per-month figure.  

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1. Best overall: Maybank Family & Friends Card

The Maybank Family & Friends Card is not just a practical choice, but also a versatile one. This cashback card lets you earn 8% cashback in 5 categories of your choice—one of which can be Transport:

Maybank Family & Friends Card category	Description
Transport	Petrol stations, EV Charging, Contactless bus and train rides, Limousines, Taxi, Grab/GOJEK rides, other passenger transportation services and automotive related services globally

Source: Family & Friends Card Cashback Programme Terms and Conditions

With the Transport cashback category on the Maybank Family & Friends Card, you’re covered for a wide range of transport costs: pumping up petrol when driving your car, taking a Grab or Gojek ride for the convenience, and (of course) tapping your card on the bus or train with SimplyGo.

Maybank Family & Friends Card: Benefits

Other perks of the Maybank Family & Friends Card include:

• Earn 8% cashback on 5 cashback categories of your choice—you can also earn on groceries, dining, retail, and more
• No annual fee for the first 3 years
• You also earn 8% cashback on all Malaysian Ringgit and Indonesian Rupiah spend
• Cashback is credited to your card account—it offsets your next credit card bill automatically, and you don’t need to redeem anything.

Maybank Family & Friends Card: Conditions to look out for

While the Maybank Family & Friends Card is very attractive, I can think of 2 caveats.

• To get the full 8% cashback, you’ll need to spend at least $800 per month. You get a meagre 0.3% cashback otherwise.
•  There’s also a monthly cashback cap of $25 per category, which is equivalent to a spend amount of $312.50. You won’t spend that much on public transport, but might bust this cap from taking taxis or pumping petrol, which fall under the same category as your SimplyGo spending.

MoneySmart take

Overall, the Maybank Family & Friends Card is my top cashback card choice for public transport in Singapore for its straightforward, high cashback rate (8%) and reasonable minimum spend requirement ($800/month). Just be careful of busting the monthly cap (equivalent to $312.50 worth of spending) if you also charge taxi and petrol to your card.

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2. Best for low spenders: Citi SMRT Card 

The Citi SMRT Card often goes under the radar, living in the shadow of favourites like the unlimited Citi Cash Back+ Card and (for miles chasers) the Citi PremierMiles Card. But when it comes to earning cashback on SimplyGo, the Citi SMRT Card is an underdog.

It’s in the name. This card is optimised for spending on MRT trains and buses, raking in 5% cashback with just a $500 per month minimum spend—the most accessible cashback option on our list today.

It’s also worth noting that Citi in general does not reward you for SimplyGo transactions. The Citi SMRT Card is the exception, and is your only option if you want to earn from your transport spending on a Citi credit card specifically.

Citi SMRT Card: Benefits

• 5% cashback with low minimum spend of $500 per month
• Earn on SimplyGo, taxi/Grab/Gojek rides, groceries, and online purchases (excluding mobile wallet and travel-related transactions).
• The online purchase category is huge because cashback is awarded based on the online indicator, not the merchant category code (MCC). This means anything you buy online counts so long as it isn’t mobile wallet or travel-related.

Citi SMRT Card: Conditions to look out for

• You earn cashback in the form of SMRT$, not direct cashback
• You can earn a maximum of SMRT$600 in a year, which at the 5% cashback rate is equivalent to $12,000 (average of $1,000 spend per month)
• SMRT$1 = S$1 in cash value
• Minimum of SMRT$10 required to redeem SMRT$ for SMRT$ Reward Vouchers or cash rebate.
• SMRT$ expire 15 months after the start of your earning period—this expiry is confusing, so here’s a breakdown.

Citi SMRT Card: When do SMRT$ expire?

SMRT$ expire 15 months after the start of the earn cycle—not from when they are earned.

• Your 12-month earning period starts from the date Citi issues (or renews) your Citi SMRT Card. 
• All SMRT$ you earn during this earning period will expire 15 months after the start of the earning period. So, SMRT$ earned early or late in the same cycle all share the same expiry date.

Here’s an example:

• Your card is issued/renewed on 1 Jan 2024.
• Your earning period runs from 1 Jan 2024 – 31 Dec 2024 (12 months).
• All SMRT$ earned within this period will expire 15 months from 1 Jan 2024, which means they will expire on 31 March 2025. That means if you earn SMRT$ in Dec 2024, you only have 3 months to redeem them.
• SMRT$ earned from 1 Jan 2025 – 31 Dec 2025 will be part of the next earn cycle, expiring 31 Mar 2026.

Citi will remind you that your SMRT$ are expiring soon in your credit card statement 3 months before their expiration date. Although the mechanics are confusing, it won’t be a problem so long as you make it a habit to redeem your SMRT$ as soon as you can—in other words, whenever you accumulate the minimum redemption amount of SMRT$10.

MoneySmart take

With its low mimimum spend of $500/month, the Citi SMRT is a great option to earn cashback on SimplyGo, private transportation, and a wide range of online purchases. Just take note of the cashback cap, and be sure to redeem your SMRT$ ASAP once you hit the minimum $10 redemption amount.

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3. Best for high spenders: UOB One Card

The UOB One Card offers up to 10% cashback on your bus and train rides with SimplyGo, and from now till 31 Mar 2025 has raised that carrot to a whopping 20%. UOB’s done this a couple of times before, so while the UOB One’s usual cashback rates up to 10%, it’s not unusual to see 15% or 20% being advertised to new-to-bank customers for a limited time.

Aside from the high cashback rate, the UOB One Card also opens up a wide range of cashback merchants: DFI Retail Group, Grab, McDonald’s, Shopee Singapore, Guardian, and—of course—SimplyGo, to name a few.

The biggest drawback? The UOB One Card has a complex cashback mechanism that is split into 3 types of cashback and (sort of) works on a quarterly basis. It’s really confusing, and you have to work hard to get that 20% rate. Get the full breakdown in our UOB One Card review.

UOB One Card: Benefits

• Earn up to 20% cashback from now till 31 Mar 2025 at selected merchants.
• Partner merchants include: DFI Retail Group, Grab, McDonald’s, Shopee Singapore, Guardian, and SimplyGo.
• Even without limited-time promotional rates, enjoy up to 10% cashback at the same merchants.
• First supplementary card is free

UOB One Card: Conditions to look out for

• 20% cashback is only for a limited time. Without the promotional Enhanced Cashback, you enjoy a maximum of 10% at the merchants instead.
• You only unlock 20% cashback if you spend a whopping $2,000 per month. If you hit the $500 or $1,000 spend tiers instead, you only get 13.33% cashback.
• The 20% cashback comprises Quarterly, Additional, and Enhanced Cashback. To be eligible for the latter 2, you must fulfil the minimum spends and be awarded the Quarterly Cashback for that quarter.
• While the minimum spend amounts are per month, but you need to hit them for all months in a quarter. Simiarly, you will only receive your cashback in the first statement month after the quarter.
• The Additional Cashback and Enhanced Cashback are each capped at $100 per month. Read more in our UOB One Card review.

MoneySmart take

The UOB One Card can earn anywhere from 8.33% to 20% cashback on SimplyGo, depending on your monthly spending and whether the limited-time Enhanced Cashback is available. You may be tempted by the card’s wide range of merchants and good cashback rates, but remember that the highest rates are dependent on high spending—$2,000 a month. The UOB One Card is also marred by its complex 3-part cashback mechanism, which works on a quarterly basis. Get it if you’re a big spender at these partner merchants and are sure you can stick to it for several months, since you’ll only see your cashback after a quarter is up.

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4. Best for unlimited cashback: Standard Chartered Smart Credit Card

The Standard Chartered Smart Credit Card earns you up to 10% cashback on SimplyGo and other bonus cashback merchants. Like the popular UOB One Card, this cashback doesnt come for free—you need to spend $1,500 a month to unlock 10% cashback, or $800 a month to unlock 8% cashback.

There’s also an option to earn 4% cashback with $0 minimum spend, but this is only good till 31 Mar 2025. If that seems random to you, that’s because (and this is my theory) this cashback tier only exists to bridge a gap. The Standard Chartered Smart Credit Card used to offer 6% cashback with $0 minimum spend before 6 Dec 2024, and going straight to a $800/$1,500 minimum spend model feels a little harsh doesn’t it? 

Card spend in statement month	Cashback on bonus categories	Cashback on other eligible spend
Less than $800	4% (now til 31 Mar 2025) 0.5% (after 31 Mar 2025)	0.5%
$800 or more	8%	0.5%
$1,500 or more	10%	1%

On the plus side, the Standard Chartered Smart Credit Card comes with unlimited cashback. So if you spend a lot and often bust cashback caps, this card is right up your alley. Read more in our Standard Chartered Smart Credit Card review.

Standard Chartered Smart Credit Card: Benefits

• Earn up to 10% cashback (in the form of 360° Rewards Points) on SimplyGo and other dining, streaming and transport merchants. These include McDonald’s, Starbucks, Pizza Hut, Netflix, Spotify, Disney+​, and Electric Vehicle Charging.
• From now till 31 Mar 2025, earn 4% cashback with no minimum spend required.
• No cashback cap—perfect for big spenders. (That said, do also think about how much you can possibly spend on fast food, pizza, and streaming services in a month—you may not even need this cap to be unlimited!)
• Since you earn 360° Rewards Points, you have the flexibility to redeem your points as cash rebate or miles. 
• You earn your cashback at the end of every statement cycle, i.e. on a monthly basis, which bests the UOB One Card in this respect.

Standard Chartered Smart Credit Card: Conditions to look out for

• Only up till 31 Mar 2025, go ahead and milk the 4% cashback without caring about hitting any minimum spend.
• But after 31 Mar 2025, you have to hit $800 or $1,500 a month to earn 8% or 10% cashback respectively. If you fail to hit even $800, you only earn 0.5% base cashback.
• To redeem your 360° Rewards Points as cash rebate, you need a minimum of 3,200 360° Rewards Points per redemption—this will yield $10 cashback.
• To convert your 360° Rewards Points to miles:
  • Take note of the conversion rate of 5 points for 2 miles, with a minimum block of 2,500 points.
  • To convert your points to Asia Miles, you have to pay an annual enrolment fee of $20 for the Mileage Transfer Asia Miles™ Programme.
  • To convert your points to KrisFlyer miles, no enrolment fee is required for the Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer Programme.
  • Each conversion will incur a transfer fee of $25 before GST. 
• 360° Reward Points expire after 3 years from your card opening date—not the date you earn them. This is a bit like Citi’s SMRT$ complicated expiry mechanism…except harsher. Standard Chartered doesn’t give you any time after the period ends to redeem your points. Once the 3-year period is up, your points poof. The 3-year cycle then repeats.

Source: Standard Chartered 360° Rewards Programme terms and conditions

MoneySmart take

The Standard Chartered Smart Credit Card earns you cashback from a good range of merchants at high earn rates of 8% or 10%—notably, with no cashback caps. However, don’t forget that your cashback is contingent on spending $800 or $1,500 a month. When you look at other cards that are great for SimplyGo with similar or lower minimum spends, the Standard Chartered Smart Credit Card doesn’t fare so well:

• While you can get 8% cashback with $800/month spend, the Maybank Family & Friends Card gives you the same rates for 5 merchant categories of your choice instead of just a fixed list of selected merchants.
• Spending $1,500/month unlocks the 10% cashback rate, but right now you can get 13.33% cashback from spending just $500/month with the UOB One Card.

Get the Standard Chartered Smart Credit Card as your SimplyGo buddy if you think you’ll bust the cashback caps on the other cards in this list, frequent its bonus merchants, and spend at least $800 a month.

If you do get this card, redeem your 360° Reward Points ASAP to avoid their untimely death—they expire after 3 years from your card opening date. 

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5. Best for miles chasers, and with $0 minimum spend: UOB Lady’s Card

Ladies and gentlemen, this card is for you. The UOB Lady’s Card is a bit of a misnomer—despite its name, both men and women can apply for it. I’m confident everyone will find something that catches their eye here because you get to choose from 7 spending categories to earn a generous 4 miles per dollar (mpd). Here are the categories and some examples of applicable merchants:

1. Beauty and wellness: Bobby Brown, Jean Yip Beauty, NARS, Pablo Blau, Dr Lash, Raffles Spa and more
2. Dining: Haidilao Hot Pot, The Courtyard, The Fullerton Hotel Singapore, Tunglok Group, GrabFood, 2amdessertbar, and more
3. Entertainment: Cathay Cineplexes, Golden Village, Shaw Theatres, Sistic, Zouk, Harry’s, Party World KTV, and more
4. Family: NTUC Fairprice, Cold Storage, DON DON DONKI, Giant, Medi-Ya, Redmart, Healthway Medical, LSC Eye Clinic, Raffles Dental, and more
5. Fashion: Beyond the Vines, ByInviteOnly, Nike, Her Velvet Vase, ZALORA, Club21, Kids21, and more
6. Transport: SimplyGo, Grab, Gojek, TADA, ComfortDelGro Taxi, Shell Petrol Kiosks, Esso Petrol Kiosks, SPC, Caltex and more
7. Travel: Agoda, AirAsia, Airbnb, ANA, Cathay Pacific, Emirates, EVA Air, Expedia, Jetstar, Scoot, Singapore Airlines, and more

For our purposes today, you’d want to choose the Transport category and bag 4 mpd on your SimplyGo spending. At the same time, you’ll earn 4 mpd on your cab rides and petrol too.

Want to earn on more categories? The UOB Lady’s Soltaire Card lets you earn 4 mpd on not 1, but 2 bonus categories. However, it also comes with a higher annual income requirement of $120,000.

UOB Lady’s Card: Benefits

• Earn UNI$10 per $5 spend, or 4 mpd, on a category of your choice. With the UOB Lady’s Savings Account, bump this up to 10 mpd.
• You get the flexibility to choose a preferred rewards category out of 7, and can change this every quarter.
• More flexibility: You earn UNI$, which can be redeemed as cash rebate to offset your next credit card bill, or converted to KrisFlyer or Asia miles.
  • UNI$ can be converted to cash rebate at a conversion rate of UNI$1,136 to $10 in cash rebate.
  • UNI$ can be converted to KrisFlyer or Asia miles in blocks of 10,000 miles at a conversion rate of UNI$1 = 2 miles.  
• No minimum spend required.

UOB Lady’s Card: Conditions to look out for

• You earn UNI$ per every $5 spent, not per every $1 spent. This might orphan some of your spending; for example, if you spend $9 in one transaction, you’ll only earn from the first $5.
• There’s a $25 conversion fee for each transfer under the UOB Frequent Flyer Programme, and a $50 enrolment fee to participate in the KrisFlyer Auto Conversion Programme. Read more about the fees in their T&Cs.
• Bonus UNI$ is capped at 1,800 UNI$ per month, which is equivalent to $1,000 spent.
• UNI$ expire 2 years from the last day of each periodic quarter in which you earned the UNI$.

MoneySmart take

The UOB Lady’s Card is the only one on this list that has no minimum spend (discounting the Standard Chartered Smart Card’s limited-time $0 minimum spend, 4% cashback offer). The UOB Lady’s Card basically behaves like other miles cards in this sense, and is indeed optimised for miles chasers. It’s a good choice to earn up to 10 mpd on your SimplyGo and other transport spending, or 4 mpd without the UOB Lady’s Savings Account.

The UOB Lady’s Card’s other winning feature is its flexibility. It lets you change your preferred category every quarter, so no worries if you change your mind about using it for transport rewards. You can even change your mind about the miles versus cashback debate, since you can redeem your UNI$ for either. 

If you get this card, be mindful of the $1,000/month spend cap, miles conversion fees, and 2-year UNI$ expiry. 

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