SPTC revises schedule during restriction of movement |06 January 2021

Commuters boarding a bus at the Victoria Terminal yesterday (Photo: Louis Toussaint)

With a drastic dip in the number of passengers taking public transportation due to the restriction of movement order, the Seychelles Public Transport Corporation has made some slight changes to its schedule.

Effective as of today, the Seychelles Public Transport Corporation (SPTC) will be operating as per its normal week day schedule during the morning peak hours (5am to 9am) while the afternoon peak hours will be based on daily assessments of passenger load.

Adjustment and changes in off peak hours, after 9am, is expected and will also be based on passenger load

The last bus leaving the Victoria Terminal will be at 6pm until further notice.

Mika Charles, SPTC’s corporate affairs manager, explained that the decision comes after recent developments related to the pandemic and noted that SPTC is continuously monitoring the number of people making use of public transportation to better inform its decisions.

“Since yesterday (Monday) we have noticed a reduction in passengers whereby we recorded fewer passengers than we had expected. We have seen this reduction also in the number of people on the terminal,” stated Ms Charles.

“Additionally, we are no longer operating direct trips from the IDC car park to districts, however we are offering a free shuttle service from IDC car park at 4pm to the Victoria terminal where passengers can take a connecting bus to go home,” said Ms Charles.

Commuters are further being encouraged to use their travel card, so as to limit cash transactions between drivers and passengers.

The public transportation monolith sold over 14,000 travel cards in 2020 when it kicked its ‘go cashless’ initiative into gear.

“We are encouraging people to make use of the travel cards because we are working towards becoming 100% cashless, meaning that we will not be accepting cash or coins as payments in the future,” said Ms Charles.

“It also gives us the double advantage if any contact tracing needs to be done, as we have all your details at hand when you register for a travel card including your name, surname, address and national identity number.”

Ms Charles stressed that going cashless will be a gradual process hence members of the public do not have to come all at once to the SPTC offices to purchase a travel card, as was the case during the first restriction of movement period last year.

A definite date for the complete phase out of cash transactions on SPTC buses have yet to be established, but SPTC notes that it will announce it when the time comes.

SPTC continues to sanitise its buses daily ‒ a process which it started in April 2020 ‒ and has intensified its cleaning efforts since buses are now set to be sanitised throughout the day as well as at night.

Members of the public are reminded that the wearing of mask onboard buses is mandatory for everyone.

“Commuters should wear a mask even before entering the bus and not when inside, as well as when they are waiting for the bus on the terminal. We are operating strictly under the guidelines of the Ministry of Health,” Ms Charles said.

Elsie Pointe