American Express adds SimplyGo to rewards exclusion list

American Express cardholders can start tapping their cards at bus and MRT gantries from today, but they might want to hold off in the absence of any launch promotions.

That’s because American Express has added SimplyGo rides to its rewards exclusion list, removing the possibility of earning KrisFlyer miles, Membership Rewards, or any other rebates on public transport rides.

American Express adds SimplyGo to rewards exclusions

American Express has published an updated rewards exclusion list, which adds the following exclusion to all of its cards.

Payments for public transit in Singapore, including transactions on public trains and buses, and all transactions bearing the merchant description “BUS/MRT” (with effect from 15 May 2025)

In other words, you will not be able to earn KrisFlyer miles, STAR$, Membership Rewards points, cashback or HighFlyer points on SimplyGo rides.

For the avoidance of doubt, this does not impact American Express cards issued by DBS and UOB. In other words, you can earn miles on SimplyGo transactions with the DBS Altitude AMEX, DBS Treasures Black Elite Card (no longer issued) or UOB PRVI Miles AMEX according to the table below.

Card	Earn Rate	Min. Spend to Earn Points
UOB PRVI Miles AMEX	1.4 mpd	S$5* (see footnote)
DBS Altitude AMEX	1.3 mpd	S$1.54
DBS Treasures Black Elite AMEX	1.2 mpd	S$1.67
*For Visa cards, UOB awards UNI$ based on the accumulated SimplyGo spend per calendar month. For Mastercard, accumulated fares are already posted every 5 days or S$15, whichever comes first. It’s not clear yet what the arrangement for AMEX will be.

You could also use the DBS yuu AMEX if you were so inclined, but since you’d earn just 1 yuu Point per S$1 (a 0.5% rebate or 0.28 mpd), it’s hard to see why anyone would want to do so. 

What card should you use for SimplyGo transactions?

While it’s annoying that American Express has killed the party before it even started, their cards were never ideal for SimplyGo anyway, with a maximum earn rate of just 1.3 mpd.

There are much higher-earning options out there, such as 4 mpd with the UOB Lady’s Cards (with Transport selected as the quarterly bonus category) or 3 mpd with the KrisFlyer UOB Credit Card. 

You can also use a wide range of general spending cards to earn anywhere from 1.2 to 1.6 mpd with SimplyGo; refer to the post below for more information (I’ll be publishing an updated 2025 version in the next few weeks).

2024 Edition: Best Credit Cards for Public Transport (SimplyGo)

Conclusion

On the same day that American Express starts supporting SimplyGo payments, it’s also added them to its rewards exclusion list.

This means that barring any limited-time promotions, there’s very little reason to tap your AMEX card at the gantry— unless perhaps it’s issued by DBS or UOB. What a shame, because I’m sure all the Centurion folks were looking forward to trying out their Prada bracelets!