Last Saturday was a major milestone for MyCiTi. It was the day on which the myconnect card replaced the paper ticket system previously used on the MyCiTi service. As of 27 January, 13 532 people have got the myconnect card, and the large majority of them are tapping onto the MyCiTi service daily.

myconnect is an efficient, reliable system that allows large numbers of people to travel quickly, which helps to ensure that the service is reliable, customer friendly and sticks to its timetable.

The City started selling myconnect cards on November 26 last year. By the end of November, the City had sold just over 100 cards. People were getting used to the system slowly. But since then, there has been enormous uptake.

The card was launched by Absa and ICT-Works.

“We had expected to sell about 7,000 cards, as this is the approximate number of regular passengers. 13,532 cards sold is 100% more than we expected, which is very encouraging. It shows that the system has been successfully adopted and implemented,” said Councillor Brett Herron, Mayoral Committee Member for Transport, Roads and Stormwater.

A small proportion of MyCiTi passengers have complained about myconnect, mostly about the cost of the card and the end of the paper-ticket system. This must be put in perspective.

The paper ticket system was always a temporary measure to allow the City to launch the MyCiTi service. Rather than delay the launch of the MyCiTi services, the interim paper-ticket system was devised to allow people to ride the buses while the myconnect card system was finalised and tested to ensure that it is implemented successfully in a phased manner.

myconnect has always been a key part of the design of a sustainable MyCiTi service, and the myconnect system is being introduced in phases. At the end of each phase the City tests and measures to ensure that lessons learnt in each phase are implemented and the system refined to ensure that the customer benefits. When all the phases have been introduced, in the not-too-distant future, the City will have catered for our various users.

“It is very important to keep the long-term view in mind,” said Councillor Herron.

When you get your card, you get two emergency tickets to use should you get stuck without value on your card. These tickets substantially reduce the R22 activation cost. From the middle of February this year you will also be able to hand in your myconnect card at any station and get back the R22 activation fee, provided you have kept your receipt.

This may be an inconvenience for some people, but it is a short-term inconvenience, because later this year a single-trip option will be available. This will benefit tourists and visitors to the City who may not want to purchase a card.

For the irregular users of the MyCiTi service another benefit of the card is that the money on the card does not expire, so you can load money onto the myconnect card to use at any time. This will cater for Capetonians who catch the bus infrequently.

The single-trip option and the concessions for regular users will be available later this year. When you buy in bulk each trip will be cheaper, and there will be no banking charge for purchasing what we refer to as “transit products” –products developed for regular users.

“An efficient, accessible and convenient public transportation system is essential for any growing metropolitan area like Cape Town,” said Simon Just, Head of Consumer Cards at Absa.

“Absa is proud to provide innovative contactless payment solution for bus commuters as we strongly believe in offering the best solutions. With the launch of the contactless card payment, commuters will enjoy a safe and convenient experience as they use their contactless cards for transit services."

"ICT-Works are on track in delivering a professional world class service to the City of Cape Town,” said Margaret Sibiiya, executive director of ICT-Works."

"ICT-Works have laid the foundation for future progress in Transport Information Technology for the City of Cape Town and beyond."

Another area of development for the myconnect card is how we can provide myconnect card to the indigent living in the route’s geographic footprint. Our objective is to make the use of the card as widespread as possible.

We are also encouraging commuters to use the card to help them budget for their monthly and weekly trips. By loading money on the card at the beginning of the month a household can plan its budget – knowing that the money is available on the card for MyCiTi transport needs. We have encouraged commuters to load in amounts no less than R65 at a time. This is the amount that at which the 2,5% percentage fee or the minimum R1,50 break-even – it also allows you to load enough money for many trips at a time.

MyCiTi is being introduced in phases. There has always been great impatience for all the phases to be in place quickly, but this is absolutely impossible. The service is a complex, expensive one to implement. We have already seen, with the introduction of the Table View–Civic Centre route, that our patience has been rewarded. This will also be the case with the various payment options we are introducing in phases.

We have been holding weekly debriefing sessions, similar to those held during the World Cup, to ensure that myconnect is working. These sessions are a great help to us and will continue. The most significant feedback from the volunteers and the users of the system during the trial period was that validating, in particular, “took some getting used to initially.”

But the large majority of our passengers are now using the system without complaint. Every day, many thousands of people are tapping onto MyCiTi on the feeder buses and at the trunk stations. The system is working successfully.

myconnect is a big leap towards achieving our MyCiTi vision – an efficient, reliable public transport service that is as smart as any other in the world. With the support of all of us, in the coming years, this MyCiTi service will be made available to all Capetonians.

“We look forward to this exciting future for public transport in Cape Town, and thank the growing numbers of people who are already catching on to the MyCiTi vision,” said Councillor Herron.