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THE kingdom’s revamped bus service has introduced a fresh ticketing system which Bahrain Public Transport Company (BPTC) general manager Borja Bermudez Perez believes will bring travelling across the kingdom into the modern age.
Commuters can now catch their ride using the new GO Cards, which have drawn inspiration from the Oyster cards used in London and similar schemes in other major international cities.
Spanish national Borja, who has 12 years of experience in the transportation industry after lengthy stints in Morocco and the US, believes that the new service will make for a more convenient and safer experience for passengers in Bahrain.
He explained: “The main advantages of the GO Cards are that customers don’t need to carry cash around with them to pay for their journeys, so it’s safer for them, plus you can use the card seamlessly across multiple routes if you’re bus-hopping.
“They are cheaper, more user-friendly and come without the environmental consequences of thousands of paper tickets being distributed and discarded every day.”
The GO Card is a pre-paid, re-usable smart card that allows public transport users to board buses in a quicker and more convenient manner, its designers say. They are the first smart ticketing system to be introduced in Bahrain and can be used on any of the kingdom’s 32 routes across the network.
The cards are available for an initial fee of 500 fils and can then be loaded with any amount of credit up to BD50 at bus terminals or by asking any driver. Passengers are charged for the zones crossed in any complete one-way journey including connections between buses, rather than having to pay every time a new bus is caught.
Borja, who holds an Executive MBA in Business Administration from the University of Barcelona and a degree in Political Science from the University of Santiago de Compostela, believes that bringing Bahrain’s transport system in line with cities such as London, Barcelona and Dubai will see more people choose public transport over private taxis or driving themselves.
He said: “Our feedback to the GO Cards has been overwhelmingly positive so far and the customers have really taken to them as a much more convenient option than carrying coins around.
“They’ve only been active since August 1 and both customers and drivers alike are getting used to the system still, but more people are making the switch every day. In fact, we hope by January that we can switch completely to the GO Cards and leave cash payments behind.”
The BPTC has a fleet of 141 buses operated by 304 drivers who work 32 routes from as early as 4.30am through to 1am the following morning. Passenger feedback is currently being sought to see where routes and running hours can be expanded.
BPTC is still on the lookout for new drivers, and hope to expand the team to 336. Borja said: “We are very thorough in our recruitment process – 33 per cent of our drivers are from Bahrain and know the country well, but the rest are obviously new. So, we conduct a full interview with drivers in their home country first, and they only get to that stage if they have at least five years’ experience.
“If their application is successful, they do three weeks of intense training, which includes a minimum of 18 hours behind the wheel with a certified driving instructor from the UK or Spain, plus accompanying work in the classroom.”
Once their driving is of sufficient standard, each applicant goes through five days of route learning in the depot, and once they have the keys to the bus they are monitored month-by-month by driver training officers who board the buses to check how they are managing their speed, distance to vehicles around them and their attitude towards customers.
Borja added: “Our company operates towards five very important criteria: safety, customers, employees, community and excellence. Of course, safety is always our number one priority, right from the application stage to how our buses conduct themselves on the road. With the GO Cards, we are hoping to push these values further and create a greater experience for everyone.”
