A passenger who boarded a bus from Lami with a student e-Transport card allegedly damaged the e-Ticketing validator after the driver told him that what he was doing was illegal.

Driver and Manager of Shore Buses Aman Singh urged members of the public to co-operate with the new e-Ticketing system.

The incident happened yesterday morning when Mr Singh was doing his normal rounds from Lami Town to Suva, when he noticed a man running down from the Delainavesi Road.

“I decided to stop and wait for him so he could hop in the bus – so basically I was doing him a favour.

“I noticed that he had a yellow card which is only allocated for students. He was a pretty big guy so he definitely can’t be going to school on a Saturday. So I told him: “Hey bro, you’re not supposed to be using that card because we can both get charged and you need a proper adult card which is the red one.”

The passenger gave $2 to the driver who politely said that he could not accept it.

“He put the $2 on the engine cover and I told him that I cannot accept this because by law you cannot do that. Then he swung at me and I ducked and looked for something to defend myself and I think he noticed that.

“He got angry, punched the validator which cracked the machine and then quickly ran away towards the jungle side.

“I took the rest of the passengers to Suva, could not pick up any more passengers as the machine could not work.”

Mr Singh said the incident left him shocked and depressed.

“I urge the Land Transport Authority to put some sort of enforcement in place to help bus drivers.  Otherwise these incidents become an extra cost for the bus companies,” he said.

“We are trying to help people here by liaising in the right manner so we all can be on the same page, but when we don’t get the support then how can we work on the same page.

“We have spent so much money in order for this to work and people come and spoil the machines by damaging them defeats the purpose of e-Ticketing,” he said.

Shore Buses owner, Jasper Singh said the cost of getting a new machine from Vodafone is costly.

“Drivers have been regularly informing us that there are a number of adults using the yellow student cards and we have formally informed LTA,” said Mr Jasper Singh.

Intelligence and Crime Assistant Commissioner of Police Biu Matavou confirmed that the matter being investigated.

Edited by Rosi Doviverata

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