#trending: Online users hit with nostalgia by bus and MRT fare cards from the 1990s

SINGAPORE — A post by an online user about Transitlink fare cards that have been phased out more than 20 years ago has sparked a collective stroll down memory lane on a discussion thread of Reddit.

The post, put up on the online forum on Tuesday (July 23), had people reminiscing about the days when commuters used the cards to board buses and MRT trains in Singapore.

Some of the cards shown on the post was said to be from the mother of Reddit user "ConsoleLogin". 

The seven cards featured scenes of underwater life, a beach, flowers and even one that had a monochromatic illustration of an MRT train and buses.

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The Transitlink fare card was introduced in 1991 to replace stored-value tickets that had two magnetic strips behind the card. It allowed commuters to pay for transport on buses as well as on trains.

The magnetic card, which can be bent slightly and can store cash value, was inserted into a slot at the MRT fare gates.

On buses, there was a fare validator machine where passengers had to slot the card into the machine, choose a fare from several buttons and collect a printed ticket issued by the machine.

In 2002, these magnetic fare cards were phased out and replaced by contactless Ez-link cards, which offered a more convenient and faster way to pay for public transport by simply tapping the card on a reader and the fares were automatically calculated and deducted.

Bus passengers thus need not have to calculate fares themselves by pressing buttons on the validator machines, which commonly led to people choosing incorrect fares or the lowest fares. 

The post by the Reddit user received 293 upvotes as of Wednesday afternoon, triggering a flood of memories from users who fondly recalled using the cards and the public transport system in earlier days. 

People who commented talked about the varied and vibrant designs of the old TransitLink cards, with one saying that the cards were beautiful and thanked the Reddit user for sharing the image of the cards.

Another Redditor wrote that the "design on the bottom row left showcasing the MRT and buses" was a favourite.

Another user said: "Ah, the memories. I used to scrape off the printed designs to reveal the white base and then draw on my own designs using markers and pens."

One fondly recalled using the printed paper bus tickets "to fold paper hearts", with another Reddit user adding that the "(professional) move was to (be able to) fold double hearts".

Others talked about how the payment process worked and many said that they missed the "tactile" feeling of pressing a button on the machine to choose the fare when boarding buses.

"I liked to press the fare button, got a nice tactile feel," one said, while another commented about missing "the sense of pressing the tactile orange glowy button to purchase (a) train ticket".

A common sentiment that echoed throughout the discussion was “I'm old".

The Reddit users talked about how much time had passed and how Singapore's public transport system has evolved over the years.

A few people said that the fare cards brought back memories of old payphone plastic cards that were used to make phone calls on public phones.

One remarked: "So you remember the phone cards, too, then. I still have some, unused. I am old..."

This was not the first time that someone shared pictures of old fare cards on reddit. Five years ago, a user named "en0rt" who was born in Australia dug up similar fare cards saying that they were used in the days while schooling in Singapore. 

On Facebook and other social media channels, people have also shared pictures of cards that they owned when prompted by something they had read.

These fare cards, a few in nearly new condition, can also be found selling online.

In the 1990s to early 2000s when they were in use, the fare card designs varied to sometimes feature advertisements or commemorative events by businesses or corporations.

There were even scented fare cards launched in the mid-1990s.

One some occasions, people queued for limited edition designs that were launched.

TODAY has reached out to the latest Reddit user who posted the fare card images for comment.