Update: 8:36am – Bus companies must install e-ticketing machines by October and there’s a penalty if they don’t. About one thousand seven hundred buses will carry the terminals.
Economy Minister, Aiyaz Sayed Khaiyum, says the initiative helps various stakeholders in the decision-making process and will also help bus companies to increase their revenue.
“It also helps with National Planning, it’s a very important issue for us because as you know there is an influx of motor vehicle in Fiji we need to make public transportation attractive.
Sometimes people do not have public transportation because the frequency of the routes or the frequency of buses in that area is not enough. So in that way LTA can also determine and say – look we need to have more routes for this particular area and it is also very helpful in respect to the revenue collection too. Lot of bus companies have said to us that there is lots of pilfering taking place.”
For those who use buses on a short term basis such as tourists or those who come from the outer islands, can get disposable cards. Vodafone Fiji Chief Executive, Pradeep Lal, says about a 1000 post terminals will cover all the key locations where people can top up their cards and in the next three weeks rural areas will be covered as well.
-FBC
