The Peninsula Taxi Association (PTA) in the Western Cape will become the first taxi organisation to use electronic payments in South Africa.
The end of January saw the launch of the Tap-I-Fare card payment system. 5 000 cards were distributed to passengers. These cards are compatible with the MyCiTi bus service and Johannesburg’s Reya Vaya bus service too.
With a fleet of 250 vehicles, the PTA is testing the system on a number of taxis for now. “As a pilot project at the moment, the card system was being implemented in 42 vehicles which run from the city to Victoria & Alfred Waterfront route but would be rolled out to other routes in future. The 42 vehicles had wireless hand-held devices upon which the cards were swiped,” the New Age wrote.
“As the most progressive taxi association in the country, it was always the vision of the PTA to look ahead and pre-empt the ever changing needs of the commuter. This meant that changes had to be made to keep up with the times, and this card payment system was but one option that was explored,” Ghaalid Behardien, association spokesperson, said.
The first 1000 passengers to buy a new card will get it 50% discount, while card holders’ fares from Cape Town central to the V&A Waterfront are reduced by 50c.
Charlie Fripp – Online editor
this new card system is not working in Joh.Burg and is not going to work in the Western Cape as a proper study is not done about the taxi consumer.