The GO GEORGE Smart Card is replacing paper bus tickets from 15 November 2018. A huge percentage of regular bus passengers have already bought their Smart Cards to prevent standing in long queues closer to the roll-out date. From today, cardholders can also top up (load trips) at the network of Smart Card vendors that do top-ups only, as well as at the Smart Card kiosks and mobile vehicles that have only been selling cards up till now.
Where do I top up?
Business hours might change depending on demand, but the following facilities are open to sell cards and top up trips on your card.
Seven days a week, from 05:30 – 20:30:
- Four Smart Card kiosks:
Next to York Park glass building, York Street
Transport Hub
Garden Route Mall
Blanco Triangle
- Two Smart Card mobile vehicles
Leaflets with the fixed schedule of where and when the two mobile vehicles visit the different parts of town are available from all Smart Card kiosks, the Info kiosk at the Hub and GO GEORGE champions.
Monday – Friday, 08:00 – 16:30:
- Temporary kiosk:
Pacaltsdorp Community Hall
- Top-up vendors – own business hours:
A network of about 30 top-up vendors all over town will do top-ups only. Where a specific area is low on top-up vendors, the mobile Smart Card vehicles do more shifts per week to make sure that residents all have the opportunity to top up when needed.
You don’t need any identification when you top up – that was only required to buy your first Smart Card at the special price of R20. Just hand over your card to the cashier who will ask you how many trips you want to buy. She will insert your card into the card machine to load your trips and hand back your reloaded card with a receipt showing your purchase as well as the new balance of trips on your card.
Top-up Tips
Always top up when you are not in a rush to get to your destination and before you run out of trips – there are enough vendors and mobile vehicles to avoid long queues.
- You can pay for your trips with cash or a bank card.
- Your trips never expire and stay valid until used.
- Take good care of your Smart Card – if stolen or lost, you lose your trips.