With the first week of GO GEORGE Smart Card sales going very well and card distribution well on its way, the bus service will start installing the new technical equipment for the change-over on the buses next week.
The Smart Card system will officially go live on 15 November 2018. However, passengers will tap their cards to pay for trips on Sunday 18 November for the first time since the first three days after
going live will offer free travel to all who can show their Smart Card upon boarding the bus.
“The first week of card distribution exceeded all our expectations,” said James Robb, GO GEORGE Manager. “Clearly, our repeated messaging in the media and through direct engagement with the public is paying off; the people of George understand the process and are supporting our request to get their Smart Cards as soon as possible. Guiding them through this next phase of transition is our focus now.”
Boarding and transfer arrangements
From 2 to 14 November 2018, the new Smart Card equipment will be installed on buses. During this time, some buses will still have the old ticket readers, and some the new equipment that cannot
validate your paper ticket.
For this period, on the buses already fitted with the new equipment, all tickets (on-board single, off-board single and multi-journey) will be punched by the bus driver who will issue a R0-value transfer receipt printed by the new card machine and hand back the punched ticket. To transfer to another bus within the one-hour period, passengers will need to show both this receipt and the punched ticket to the driver.
The receipt issued for transfer (during transition and in future, using your Smart Card) prints the one-hour end time in bold print, as well as the time of boarding the first bus. This makes it easier for both the passenger and driver to see when the hour allowed for transfer will expire.
Paper tickets phased out
From 15 November, when the Smart Card is implemented, no more paper tickets will be sold, and from 15 December, no more paper tickets will be accepted on buses, so passengers are strongly
encouraged to get their Smart Cards as soon as possible.
To qualify for the special first-card price of R20, including two pre-loaded trips, the buyer needs to produce an ID, passport, driver’s licence or birth certificate, or a copy thereof. Children from the age of four must have their own Smart Cards.
Those who do not have any official proof of identity, can still buy a card at the normal price of R40, with no pre-loaded trips, from 1 November 2018. On this same day, Smart Card kiosks, vehicles
and top-up vendors will start selling trips too. Until the end of October, only the Smart Cards with two preloaded trips (R20) will be sold to people with valid identification.
For more information, phone the GO GEORGE Call Centre on 0800 044 044, send an email to info@gogeorge.org.za, or follow GO GEORGE on Facebook for the latest news.