NEW MODE OF PAYMENT PROVIDES VIABLE ALTERNATIVES TO MOVIE-GOERS
Issued By: EZ-Link Pte Ltd
SINGAPORE, 10 September 2003 – Picture this: You are with your date at the cinema box office, purchasing tickets to a movie. You find that not only do you have insufficient cash, you have also left your cards at home. As the macho guy, do you ask your date to pay?
Fear not.
From today onwards, movie-goers and bowlers can purchase movie tickets and bowling games with their ez-link cards at Cathay Cineleisure Orchard. Presenting an alternative mode of payment for movie tickets, food and beverages is QB Pte Ltd, the consumer payments company, the exclusive business partner of EZ-Link Pte Ltd for non-transit payment and loyalty applications.
All you need to do is to present your ez-link card and tap it on the reader to deduct the payable amount. Two readers will be available at all cinema counters at Level 5, while one reader will be located at the bowling centre at Level 9, of Cathay Cineleisure Orchard.
To sweeten the deal, from September 10 to November 8, spending a minimum purchase of $18 in a single receipt will provide the user with a free medium-sized bucket of popcorn at Cathay Cineplex Orchard Cineleisure. For a minimum purchase of $15 of bowling games at Cathay Bowl Orchard Cineleisure, the user receives free gifts such as pens, notepads and files.
For example, young people who do not like to carry much cash with them, yet do not have a supplementary card or debit card, will find this method of payment convenient and hassle-free. Parents will also feel more secure, knowing that their child is not carrying large sums of cash with them on the streets while working adults will be provided with an alternative method of payment.
Norma Sit, CEO of QB Pte Ltd said, " The ez-link card, based on the contactless smart card technology, is a versatile transactional card which we want to move beyond its current transit purposes. In the near future, we aim to bring the card to Singaporeans as a mode of payment at shops, restaurants and entertainment outlets. Thus, we want to familiarise Singaporeans, who are used to paying through other modes, with using the ez-link card as a method of payment and we see this initiative with Cathay Cineleisure as a good way to do so, since many Singaporeans are avid movie fans."
"Cathay is pleased to establish themselves as the first cinema and bowling operators to launch ez-link as a new mode of payment," said Mr. Suhaimi Rafdi, General Manager for the Cinema Division of Cathay Organisation Holdings, "In line with Cathay’s commitment to providing quality customer service, we want to bring to our patrons a convenient and easy payment alternative which is readily accessible to all. Cardholders may also prefer to use ez-link card for small amount of purchases such as movie tickets and bowling games. As movie-going is an everyday activity in Singapore, the cinema is a great place to revolutionise the use of ez-link card in the non-transit arena."
To encourage movie-goers to use this new payment mode, a slideshow explaining the new method of payment will be screened before every show at the Cathay Cineplex Orchard.