SPTC provides update on cashless system |26 January 2024

Mr Zialor (right) accompanied by Mr Etienne during the press conference yesterday (Photo: Kassey Govinden)

The Seychelles Public Transport Corporation said despite encountering some difficulties with its cashless system late last year, it has been able to rectify the issue with minor disruption to its service.

SPTC’s chief executive, Geffy Zialor, made the comment yesterday during a press conference at the company’s headquarters at New Port, when giving an update on the cashless system introduced in July last year as well as other challenges and progress to date. He was accompanied by Alex Etienne, head of Corporate Affairs.

On Monday, Seychelles NATION had published an article highlighting some of the setbacks still being experienced by commuters while using the cashless system, including limited outlets to recharge their cards, or unavailability of funds at those outlets preventing them from using the bus service, as well as a non-operative app limiting online access.

Yesterday Mr Zialor confirmed that SPTC’S source of technology was relatively robust. “However, all technologies have its limits for as we ended the year 2023 we encountered some difficulties with our system,” said Mr Zialor.

The SPTC’s engineering team addressed the recurring issues, and eventually managed to recover the system with minimum delay to avoid major issues that could have affected the commuters, said the CEO.

“There was no major disruption in our system except for commuters using the online system, which has already been resolved since last week,” explained Mr Zialor, adding work is still being done to enhance their cashless system to make the system more robust.

With regard to point of sale for bus passes, Mr Zialor confirmed that SPTC has 83 points of sale, including 10 on Praslin. The company confirmed it was receiving increased demands for more points of sale for secondary roads and this was already in progress.

SPTC pointed out that the new wrist band introduced to replace bus cards especially among children who are prone to lose the latter, was also a good initiative. Mr Etienne said it worked relatively well. However, SPTC recorded instances where their machines were not recognising the wrist band.

They are therefore advising the commuters to keep a receipt of their last upload to certify they do have credit on their wrist band, to allow them to board the buses.

Another concern raised at yesterday’s press conference was the condition of the buses. Mr Zialor confirmed the company will be getting a new batch of buses by the end of February or March, five of which will be low floor buses designed for flat roads and disable-friendly.

SPTC was also considering putting electric buses on test drives later this year.

As part of effort to improve customer care, Mr Zialor said they will continue to conduct sessions with their drivers and are encouraging the public to contact SPTC on its hotline for any query or clarification.

Kassey Govinden