Cashless gone wrong? |22 January 2024
The cashless initiative introduced by the Seychelles Public Transport Corporation (SPTC) on July 1, 2023 seems to have been operating fairly efficiently until recently.
In September, two months after its launch, the company expressed its satisfaction with the transition, which led to a more affordable service, and enhanced the use of public transport.
It also highlighted some minor challenges at the time, such as travellers forgetting to recharge their cards on time, were in possession of expired cards, as well as the operating hours of outlets which inconvenienced commuters.
SPTC opted back then to maintain its sale outlets at the SPTC Victoria Terminal open on Saturday afternoons and Sundays.
However, it seemed the challenges remain based on the ongoing complaints from the public in the past few months. Seychelles NATION spoke to some commuters who share their unfortunate experiences.
“The cashless concept is very good but the implementation shows that it was not ready to be implemented,” expressed Marise Mousbe. She added there should have been a more in depth survey, especially with regard to recharging of the card, prior to implementation.
This was echoed by another commuter, Olivia Revera. “It is quite difficult for me as I have to go to work early and not to have the option to recharge my bus pass as there are very few places offering such services,” she said.
Mrs Revera added that although the facility is available in shop outlets, it is difficult to adjust to their opening and closing times.
Neryne Pelissier is disappointed with SPTC’s application (app) and website, which is there to facilitate the process of recharging bus passes. “It is very disappointing to see that SPTC’s supposed facilitating app is not operative for the public to use. And reaching them for help is nearly impossible as their line is constantly busy.”
There have also been several negative comments on social media with commuters sharing their frustration. These are about SPTC’s website which they claim was inoperative, despite the company encouraging them to make use of the online facility.
One post read, “How am I supposed to come down to the SPTC headquarters to charge my bus pass with zero balance on my pass.”
“It has been more than a month that the SPTC app has not been working. How are we supposed to move from place to place,” said another post.
The public is calling on the company to address their ongoing concerns promptly.
Although Seychelles NATION has constantly tried to contact the SPTC to gain its views, we were yet to receive any comments at the time of this publication.
Kassey Govinden