Pensioner shocked by bus ticket penalty

A PENSIONER who tried to replace her lost Muvo bus card was shocked when she was told she would have to pay for a replacement.

According to Wiloma Moore, she bought her card for R50 and loaded 10 rides on it, but recently realised she had misplaced it, presumably at home.

“I came home and turned the place upside down, but I couldn't find it anywhere! I went back to Alice Street bus depot to get a new one, only to be told the penalty was R250. I was told to go back on 30 October to pick it up,” she said.

Moore said R250 was a lot of money, especially for a pensioner to have to find. She contacted People Mover to say she was going to fetch her new card, but queried the penalty she had been quoted.

“I asked how much I would need to take with me and the woman said I needed to take R100 and my white card, which is the other identity I had before the Muvo card.” However, when Moore arrived at the offices and presented her white card, it was thrown back at her. “I was asked for my ID and R250. When I said I didn't have it, and that this was too much for me as a pensioner to afford, I was told to return when I had the money. The woman was very rude and had a bad attitude,” she said.

Moore said she had checked a pamphlet informing users about Muvo cards and nowhere did it mention a penalty cost for lost cards.

“It just says you need to apply for a new card. There's nothing there about paying money, and there's no sign up at the depot to say there are penalties. Why is it so much for pensioners who battle to make a living as it is? I admit I made a mistake, but I am not prepared to pay R250. They were giving the cards away up until 2012, are they now making up for their losses?” she asked.

Moore said she was raising the issue on behalf of all pensioners who could find themselves in a similar position.

“I don't expect it for nothing, but there should be concessions for the elderly,” she said.

Mlungisi Wosiyana, Deputy Head: Public Transport, eThekwini Transport Authority, the granting of concession benefit to pensioners, scholars and people with disabilities was a privilege given to targeted commuters subject to strict terms and conditions. “When our customers apply for concessions, the terms and conditions are explained to them in detail. A notice with the conditions of granting of the concession cards was placed in all our customer service points where our customers load their cards and where they apply for the concession cards. A pamphlet which was placed at all our sales points in November 2013 clearly stipulates the R200 penalty,” he said.

He said the concession fares benefits given to qualifying customers was a huge discount of around 20 per cent of the normal fares, however council was experiencing an overwhelming abuse and fraudulent use of the concession by some beneficiaries who were applying for new cards and claiming their cards were lost or misplaced. They then passed on the new cards to family members or other persons who did not qualify for concession benefits.

“Our investigation and audit showed that some of the fraudsters had more than three cards, all being used by various people who did not qualify for the concession benefit. To address this and protect the ratepayer’s money we had to put strict controls in place to curb the abuse. We also had to curb a situation where pensioners fraudulently get additional cards by claiming their cards are lost or misplaced by blacklisting all cards reported as lost from use and also by implementing a penalty fee of R200. Since we implemented these penalties the abuse has been drastically reduced and our revenue loss that ran into millions of rands, minimised,” he said.

He said the allegation that the pensioner was told by one of the staff that a replacement card was R100 had been investigated.

“The staff member in question denies having been rude and having told the pensioner that the card cost R100. Our staff are well trained and follow a strict standard operating procedure to serve our customers. Our staff are also trained to strictly adhere to our Batho Pele customer service ethos. Unless evidence is presented to us to prove these allegations in the form of witnesses, we are unable to investigate and take disciplinary action against our staff member,” said Wosiyana.