Jerry Buirski, Milnerton
It is almost a year now that we have been struggling with the inept MyCiTi bureaucracy to have our expired bus cards replaced with new ones that also have the money on them.
We have for many months been sent from pillar to post, and every time I go to the expense of coming into the city to see the people at the Civic Centre MyCiTi office it is to be told a different story.
The first time, they said the money on the first of our cards (about R320) would be transferred within three days. Three weeks later, the story was that it takes a month before you get your money transferred.
Over the past few weeks, we have been sending emails and making phone calls, and nobody has ever returned any of them in spite of daily promises.
I might add that the second MyCiTi card also has more than R300 on it. Can we be blamed for thinking that someone has downloaded this almost R700 and made off with it?
Nothing else makes sense as there can be no other explanation for such truly pathetic service. This is in spite of us being MyCiTi customers since the service was launched. It will be interesting to see what explanation Brett Herron or whoever will come up with, and please do not just give us a MyCiTi complaints phone number – we have tried them all and received bugger all satisfaction.
Brett Herron, mayoral committee member for transport, responds: The MyCiTi service’s automated fare-collection records indicate the funds on Mr Buirski’s expired myconnect card were transferred to the new myconnect card in July 2016.
The funds must be activated at a MyCiTi kiosk. We are in the process of making contact with Mr Buirski so that a supervisor can meet him at a station of his choice so that he can be assisted. Due to a gap in our transfer procedure, Mr Buirski was told to activate the funds.
This activation is normally not required, but in this case it is because the transfer was made after Mr Buirski’s myconnect card expired. As from September, this year we have changed our procedures so as to ensure that all of those commuters who face a similar situation are duly informed of how to get access to their transferred funds.
I would like to remind MyCiTi commuters to please familiarise themselves with the expiry date of their myconnect cards and to ensure that they transfer any value on the card before this date. Doing so after the card has expired will prolong the process significantly as the myconnect card is a bank card. This means that you have to complete an application form requesting the transfer of the value on your old card to the new myconnect card. This process takes up to 32 days from the date of presenting the application form and all of the relevant information, such as proof of identification.
Importantly, all commuters receive a receipt when purchasing a myconnect card.
When you need the value to be transferred, you will be required to provide proof that the myconnect card you are transferring the funds from is indeed yours – it is thus crucial to keep your original receipt in a safe place.