Bear with us as we navigate these times of designing a better ticketing system that would be lasting - Vosarogo

We are asking those who are finding things difficult now in relation to the e-ticketing system and the cards to bear with us as we navigate these times of designing a better ticketing system that would be lasting.

That is the message from Acting Minister for Communications, Filimoni Vosarogo to people in the urban and rural areas who are finding great difficulty in topping up their cards, and are walking around to many locations just to top up their card.

Vosarogo says they urge the service provider, Vodafone and the retailers acting as agents to improve service delivery for the benefit of the travelling public on our buses.

He says if there are machines that are not working, or experiencing connectivity downtime, it is important to get this fixed quick so that travel is not affected and people are able to get from one destination to another with ease and with minimal interruption. Vosarogo also says this simply shows us the obvious of the past government.

He says when people do something without sufficient consultation and without getting the critical mass of consensus before implementation, not ensuring the endorsement of the bus operators and the details of their challenges, you are bound to get into problems later, and that is what we are experiencing today.

Vosarogo says they now inherit an extremely serious problem with the e-ticketing system, and the government wants to do a thorough investigation and consultation before putting together a solution package that is efficient and tailor made to suit different challenges faced by the public transport travelling public of Fiji.

He says in the meantime, Vodafone has agreed to continue to provide its services till next year to allow time for the Taskforce to draw up specifications, consult, and go through the tender process of a new system.

Vosarogo says they continue to implore the service provider Vodafone to maintain their optimal service and reach to areas of Fiji that are most challenging to get service.

He says there is no reason why top up machines should not be working - if they are not working, Vodafone should fix that on being notified.