BY THEMBA ZWANE
MBABANE – Government, in collaboration with the National Road Transport Council (NRTC), is at an advanced stage of introducing a smart prepaid busfare payment system aimed at addressing challenges associated with busfare payments, pricing and change.
NRTC Chairperson Sabelo Dlamini said almost everything was in place for the introduction of the new system, with the remaining logistics expected to be finalised in November during Transport and Road Safety Month.
Dlamini said the stakeholders would use the Transport and Road Safety Month to convene a Transport Indaba, where further discussions on the initiative would take place.
“Almost everything is in order now, we will be finalising the logistics in November which is the Transport and Road Safety Month where we will convene a Transport Indaba,” said Dlamini.
The proposed system will involve specially designed cards which passengers will use to pay their busfares through prepaid funds.
Dlamini explained that one of the main reasons for introducing the system was to address challenges relating to busfare pricing and charging.
He said the system would ensure that public transport operators charge standardised fares, based on the gazetted prices for particular routes.
According to Dlamini, operators would be compelled to charge the gazetted fare, thereby creating greater consistency in the amount passengers pay when travelling on a particular route.
The system is also expected to provide a practical solution to challenges experienced by school-going children when paying busfares.
Dlamini said there were instances where parents gave their children money intended to cover their transport costs for the day, including the return journey, while also expecting the children to use part of the money for lunch or pocket money.
He said problems could arise when operators did not have sufficient change, particularly during the early morning trips to school.
“In such instances, it may at times occur that public transport operators would inform that particular pupil that they did not yet have change as it was early in the morning and advise the minor to come and get their change later in the afternoon after they knock off from school,” said Dlamini.
He said this could leave the child without sufficient money for lunch and, more importantly, create difficulties in securing money for the return trip home.
The smart prepaid system is therefore expected to reduce the reliance on physical cash and eliminate some of the difficulties associated with passengers needing exact change.
Dlamini said the system would also offer flexibility to parents and other users because funds could be deposited into the card in advance to cover transport expenses for an entire month.
He further explained that the card would have functionality allowing users to access part of the funds deposited on it for emergencies.
For example, a parent could withdraw some money from the card to purchase essential household items such as bread and later reimburse the amount.
The system is therefore being positioned not only as a method of paying busfares, but also as a convenient financial tool for managing transport expenses.
Dlamini said the smart prepaid busfare payment system would generally make life easier for public transport users.
The initiative is expected to form part of broader efforts to modernise the public transport sector and improve the efficiency of fare collection.
The planned Transport Indaba in November is expected to bring together relevant stakeholders as preparations for the system move towards finalisation.
With the logistics nearing completion, the government and NRTC are now preparing for the next stage of implementing the smart prepaid busfare payment system, which is expected to bring greater predictability to busfare payments while reducing some of the cash-related challenges faced by passengers and operators.
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