The City of Cape Town’s Mayoral Committee Member for Transport, Roads and Stormwater, Councillor Brett Herron, and Marvin the MyCiTi mascot were at the Civic Centre Station this week to demonstrate how the new myconnect card will provide commuters with a faster and more convenient way to use the MyCiTi service.
“This is the first step of a gradual implementation that will be rolled out over the next two months. Further phases will come into effect in mid-2012. This incremental roll-out is to ensure that the systems are in full working order before introducing another aspect of the system,” said Councillor Herron.
The myconnect card will eliminate the need for passengers to use cash to pay for transport on a daily basis, and allow the City to avoid the problems of fare evasion.
Although the card is now available, paper tickets will continue to be sold for two months creating an overlap period during the transition phase from a paper-based system to a smartcard system.This process will be completed by the end of January 2012.
How the myconnect card works
Loading value on your myconnect card is as easy as topping up your cellphone airtime or loading your pre-paid electricity. Simply get a myconnect card from the station kiosk, pay the issuing fee, load value onto the e-purse, and tap the card against a validator that automatically deducts the correct fare from your balance.As part of the first step in this incremental roll-out, passengers have been buying myconnect cards from Saturday 26 November to Friday 9 December as part of an initial trial period. The trial services are available at the Civic Centre and Table View stations (but not at the stations in-between until 9 December 2011) and on all feeder buses.
Passengers who choose to use their cards to pay for their fares during this trial do so at their own risk, since the system is still in a test phase during the trial. During the trial period some of the card’s functions will not be available (such as the special ‘beep’ when the balance of value on the card is low) and there may be times when validators are not available for use. After the trial period, when a passenger’s card is running low on funds, a ‘low balance’ indicator notifies them that they will soon need to top up their card. This is indicated on the validator by a special ‘beep’.
There is an introductory issuing fee of R20 charged for each card. This will increase to R22 from 1 January 2012. The City recommends that users load a minimum of R65 onto the card at any time, although smaller amounts can be loaded. In order to make your journeys using the card easier, users may want to consider loading enough money at a time for a week’s travel at the station kiosks.
The myconnect card is a bank card, issued by ABSA. As with other banking products, bank fees are charged. In this case the bank fees are 2.5%, or R1.50 minimum, of the total value loaded. No additional fee is charged when the card is used to pay for fares on the MyCiTi system. The use of a banking product will save the City and passengers money in the long run. If the City paid for all of the back-office facilities for these transactions, it would have cost much more than 2.5% bank charge. This is one of the reasons why the use of a banking card is prescribed by the National Department of Transport for all electronic fare systems implemented from June 2011.
What myconnect card will cost
If your first value load is for a total of R65.00, it will be allocated as follows:R63.37 (value load on the card) + R1.63 (bank fees of 2.5%) = R65.00.
Bank fees for loading value onto e-purse of myconnect card
Value load
Fixed Bank Fee
Actual Card Balance
R 5
R 1.50
R 3.50
R 7
R 1.50
R 5.50
R 10
R 1.50
R 8.50
R 15
R 1.50
R 13.50
R 20
R 1.50
R 18.50
R 25
R 1.50
R 23.50
R 30
R 1.50
R 28.50
R 35
R 1.50
R 33.50
R 40
R 1.50
R 38.50
R 45
R 1.50
R 43.50
R 50
R 1.50
R 48.50
R 55
R 1.50
R 53.50
R 60
R 1.50
R 58.50
Value load
Bank fee: 2.5% of Rand value
Actual Card Balance
R 61
R 1.53
R 59.47
R 62
R 1.55
R 60.45
R 63
R 1.58
R 61.42
R 64
R 1.60
R 62.40
R 65
R 1.63
R 63.37
R 70
R 1.75
R 68.25
R 75
R 1.88
R 37.12
R 80
R 2.00
R 78.00
R 85
R 2.13
R 82.87
R 90
R 2.25
R 87.75
R 95
R 2.38
R 92.62
R 100
R 2.50
R 97.50
R 105
R 2.63
R 102.37
R 110
R 2.75
R 107.25
R 115
R 2.88
R 112.12
R 120
R 3.00
R 117.00
R 125
R 3.13
R 121.87
R 130
R 3.25
R 126.75
R 135
R 3.38
R 131.62
R 140
R 3.50
R 136.50
R 145
R 3.63
R 141.37
R 150
R 3.75
R 146.25
R 155
R 3.88
R 151.13
R 160
R 4.00
R 156.00
R 165
R 4.13
R 160.88
R 170
R 4.25
R 165.75
R 175
R 4.38
R 170.63
R 180
R 4.50
R 175.50
R 185
R 4.63
R 180.37
R 190
R 4.75
R 182.25
R 195
R 4.88
R 190.12
R 200
R 5.00
R 195.00
R 205
R 5.13
R 199.87
The maximum you can load onto the card at any one time is R1 500. You may not load more than R3 000 in total in any 30-day period. The maximum transaction amount is R200 per transaction.
During 2012, ‘transit products’ will become available which will benefit regular commuters and provide other concessions for other users. When commuters purchase these ‘transit products’ they will not be charged a bank fee.
When you get your card and have it activated you will have to select a PIN to activate the card. Be sure that you remember your PIN because without it, you cannot load value or monitor your balance in future. The default PIN is 1111, but when you buy the card you can choose to change the PIN.
Once this is done you can load travel value on to the e-purse on your card. It’s a good way to budget for the month – but remember to keep your myconnect card safe because if you lose it, you can’t be refunded.
The cards can also be used to pay for trips to the airport for adult passengers. However, if a passenger wishes to buy bulk tickets, or if children aged 11 or under are to ride the airport bus, they will still need to purchase paper tickets.
As an added bonus, you can use the myconnect card to pay for purchases under R200 at shops and other vendors where the PayPass symbol is displayed – provided you have sufficient value on your card.
For more information about MyCiTi services, click here www.capetown.gov.za/myciti or call the Transport Information Centre on 0800 65 64 63.
Article source: http://www.capetown.gov.za/en/Pages/CllrHerronandMarvindemonstratethenewmyconnectfaresystem.aspx
Original Post on MyZA» Cape Town: Cllr Herron and Marvin demonstrate the new myconnect fare system
