The Department of Transport (DoT) was engaging with the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa, the Gautrain Management Agency (GMA) and the Gauteng DoT with regard to implementing a compliant, interoperable transport smartcard system, Transport Minister Dipuo Peters said in a Parliamentary reply.

Responding to a question from the Democratic Alliance, the Minister said that, in terms of regulations relating to Integrated Fare Systems (IFS), issued in terms of the National Land Transport Act, the Gautrain had until June 16, 2016, to integrate its fare management system with those of other public transport schemes.

“An instruction was issued on April 16, 2014, by the GMA to the Bombela Concession Company to proceed with the specification and procurement of an upgrade to the ticketing system, which will comply with IFS requirements,” Peters said.

Meanwhile, the Minister also pointed out that integrated transport smartcards were already available to users of the Rea Vaya bus rapid transit system, in Johannesburg; the MyCiTi system, in Cape Town; and the Durban Transport system, in eThekwini.

“They will [also] be rolled out [on] the A Re Yeng system, in Tshwane, by December 2014 and in Nelson Mandela Bay on the Libhongo Lethu system by early 2015. Rustenburg and Ekurhuleni are expected to follow in 2016,” she added.