As from 1 July 2022, the City’s Urban Mobility Directorate will introduce a clipcard system for Dial-a-Ride (DAR), a public transport service for people with special needs who cannot make use of conventional public transport.
The clipcards will be sold aboard the vehicles on weekdays and a mobile point of sale machine will be available to accept debit and credit cards for payment, including SASSA cards.
‘This is an exciting and innovative addition to improve our service to the DAR users. It demonstrates our commitment to always try and improve our service delivery to the benefit of commuters. Through innovative practices we also optimise resource efficiency. The new clip cards aim to make bus trips for our regular users more convenient and safer. It will also save users time from handling money as they will be able to buy tickets in advance.
‘Another advantage is that users will be able to manage their finances by ring-fencing their transport budget. This will in turn lead to a more seamless commute. However, those making use of the service on an ad-hoc basis will still have to pay cash for their trips,’ said the City’s Mayoral Committee Member for Urban Mobility, Councillor Rob Quintas.
The introduction of clip cards will also improve the safety of all, given that there will be less cash exchanging hands. Now, the driver will only check the validity of the card and clip each card before the start of each trip.
Dial-a-Ride fares are based on distance travelled and the clipcards will be colour coded for each distance band.
Each clipcard will be valid for 10 trips within 14 days of purchase. This is the equivalent of one pick-up and one drop-off every weekday for a week. The trips can be used at any time within the 14-day period, thus, missing out on some trips in the first week means that the remainder is still available in the second week.
‘I encourage regular users to try out the new clipcard system, and have them easily available whenever they travel on the DAR service,’ said Councillor Quintas.
