IPTS FARE STRUCTURE THRASHED OUT
Proposals include large discount for scholars, pensioners and students
PUPILS and pensioners could be eligible for discounts on Nelson Mandela Bay’s IPTS buses once they finally hit the road. This is if the proposed fare structure and policy documents for the Integrated Public Transport System are approved by the council at next week’s meeting.
The fare structures, policy and strategy documents, passed by the mayoral committee yesterday, come after the budget proposal for the beleaguered IPTS department was submitted to the national Department of Transport last week.
The flat fare structure approved by the mayoral committee yesterday could see scholars, pensioners and students receive a 20% discount when using one of the Libongolethu buses.
In a report to the committee yesterday, the municipality said the IPTS was moving swiftly toward implementation.
“The available time to implement the required solution is limited, ongoing operational financial sustainability is of primary importance as is the acceptance of a fare structure,” the report states.
The municipality hopes to launch the Cleary Park IPTS starter route in October.
It recommended that a route-based structure be introduced.
“The flat fare for each particular route in the system will be based mainly on the affordability consideration and take into account the current fares being charged by the current public transport operators,” the report said.
The flat fare structure would see passengers charged across a particular route irrespective of the origin or destination.
On the fare policy, the municipality reported that because the IPTS would be competing against the minibus taxis and existing bus companies, the fare would be more or less the same as existing bus fares with a slight increase.
It would then increase annually according to the transport-related consumer price index.
Presenting the report yesterday, acting IPTS project manager Luthando Mabhoza said the recommended fare structure was the most ideal.
“Of all the fares that we have looked at, this fare structure is the one that is more resolute. When we go to concessions we will [implement] 20% discount for learners and pensioners and we would love to include students with student cards,” Mabhoza said.
Concerns with regulating students were raised by human settlements political head Nqaba Bhanga, who said it would be easy for anyone to produce a fake card.
“There are different institutions in Nelson Mandela Bay and a person can produce any student card. I want to suggest that we register institutions as there are fly-by-night institutions and we must be careful of that,” Bhanga said.
Mayor Athol Trollip thanked the committee for considering the students who were forced to travel long distances to access higher education.
“We must register accredited institutions as this could become a massive area of risk; we need to investigate how it can be done on an authentic basis,” he said.