Putco Ticket Terms and Conditions

3 Card and Trip Sales

3.1 SmartTap cards may be purchased at any of the registered outlets. If not purchased from a recognized outlet, neither Putco (Pty) Ltd or TicketPro (Pty) Ltd will be liable for any damages or losses incurred. A registered outlet may be identified by the Blu Approved logo & SmartTap logo, and on the TicketPro website under Outlets:
https://www.ticketpros.co.za/portal/web/index.php/outlets/
3.2 The initial roll-out of the system will allow customers to receive a free SmartTap card. This will count for the first three months after the roll-out of the ticketing system in your operational area, where after the SmartTap cards will cost R 20.00 to purchase.
3.2.1 Outlets are not allowed to charge any additional costs or charge administrative fees.
3.2.2 The SmartTap card does NOT expire.
3.2.3 Reloading trips on the card does not require any additional charges to the price of the ticket or fare product being purchased. i.e. if the ticket purchased is R 100.00
3.2.4 Should a customer believe they are being charged unreasonable then
3.3 The SmartTap cards will be loaded with trips, and will be either 10 trip, 12 trip, 44 trip or 52 trip tickets. These 10 & 12 trip tickets will be valid for a period of 14 calendar days from the date of sale and the 44 & 52 trip tickets will be valid for a period of 45 calendar days from the date of sale.
3.4 Designated Customer Service Centres or DCS centres will be appointed in the various operating areas, and will only be operational on normal business days from 06:00 – 16:00.

4 Using your card and looking after it

4.1 At the start of every journey, you must hold your smartcard on the reader at the entrance of the bus. The reader will make a bleep sound and show a green light when it has read your card properly, and accepted it as valid.
4.2 In order to be valid for travel, your smartcard must have a valid ticket for the journey.
4.3 We reserve the right to suspend or terminate the operation of smartcards, at any time and for any reason and we will use reasonable endeavours to provide prior notification to you of such an occurrence.
4.4 Damaged smartcards will be replaced by the card holder at their cost. The remaining trips on the card will be verified and transferred to the replacement card. This process is described in items 5 “Card Replacement” & 6 “Trip Replacement”.
4.5 Where a smartcard is faulty and the fault is not because of a failure on the part of the registered holder to take care of it, it must be returned to the company before a new card can be issued free of charge. The remaining trips on the card will be verified and transferred to the replacement card and will be done at the DCS centres.
4.6 Users of the smartcard must take care of the smartcard and ensure it is not crushed, folded, placed near any strong magnetic or electric fields, allowed to get wet or be exposed to extremes of temperature and refrain from punching holes in the card. Failure to do this will result in the card malfunctioning, and will be managed under 4.4 “Damaged cards”.
4.7 Always keep your card safe. Your card is the same as having cash in your pocket. If you lose your card or if it is stolen and used by someone else, you could lose all the money on your card. Immediately report the card as lost or Stolen as per item 5 “Card Replacement”, and follow the instructions thereafter.

5 Card Replacement

5.1 The company does not accept responsibility for damaged or lost cards. In the event of a card being lost or damaged it must be reported to (012-003-1791 / 1795) and will be replaced at your own cost, at DCS centres in your area. If there are any trips left on the card, these will be transferred to the new card at the customer service centre. Recognized outlets will not be able to assist with this function.
5.1.1 If the company believes the smartcard has been tampered with in any way, it may be withdrawn without refunding the remaining tickets and / or trips
5.2 In the event that the card is defective, with no discernable, physical damage to the card, the card must be taken to the DCS centres for replacement at no cost to the customer. If there are any trips left on the card, these will be transferred to the new card at the DCS centre. Recognized outlets will not be able to assist with this function.

6 Trip Replacement

6.1 In the event that when loading a ticket a cashier makes a mistake, the cashier must correct this error immediately with additional charges from the cashier or outlet.
6.1.1 Should a customer only realise this after leaving the premises, they will have only 24 hours to go to the same outlet to have the issue fixed.
6.1.2 Thereafter a customer must go to the designated customer service centre for assistance.
6.2 In the event that a customer is transferred / dismissed / retrenched and no longer requires the trips purchased, they may qualify for a refund by going to the designated customer service centre and providing a letter from their employer and / or a police affidavit. Each case will be reviewed on their own merit.
6.3 In the event that a customer is sick and / or hospitalized and their ticket expired they may qualify for a trip extension by going to the designated customer service centre and providing a Medical / Traditional healer certificate required [Must be registered with the Medical council (HPCSA) and / or Traditional healers association (SANTHA)].
6.4 In the event of:
• Death in the family
• Public protests
• Double Purchase
• School holidays
6.4.1 The customer may qualify for an extension of the validity period by going to the designated customer service centre and providing a police affidavit, subject to independent verification on the system.
6.5 In the event of an incorrect ticket, where more than 24 hours has passed since its purchase, the customer can only be assisted at the designated customer service centre.

7 Rights and responsibilities

7.1 Putco (Pty) Ltd reserves the right to confiscate any invalid or fraudulent cards. Card holders found in possession of fraudulent cards will be held accountable and may persecuted criminally as well as relinquishing any rights as a customer.
7.2 The responsibility remains with the passenger to ensure that they tap when boarding a bus and that a trip on the card is cancelled every time. Except for transfers, which will not deduct any additional trips, if within the set-out parameters.
7.2.1 The transfer must occur within two – three hours of the original ticket cancellation.
7.2.2 The transfer must occur at a valid transfer point.
7.2.3 The transfer must be for a correct destination.
7.3 SmartTap multi journey cards may not be resold or hired out. Only appointed staff and officially appointed registered outlets of the company may distribute, sell or upload these cards. Offenders will be prosecuted.
7.4 A ticket / receipt must be produced on request. Multi journey smart cards are not transferable and no refunds will be given.
7.5 Putco (Pty) Ltd reserves the right to suspend or terminate a registered card holders account without notice, subject to the card holder being in breach or contravening any of the terms and conditions stipulated.
7.6 Your privacy is very important to Putco (Pty) Ltd and it will use reasonable efforts in order to ensure that any information, including personal information, provided by you, or which is collected from you or third parties, is stored in a secure manner.
7.7 You agree to provide (where applicable) honest, accurate, and current information about yourself to Putco (Pty) Ltd and to maintain and update such information when necessary. You accept that your Personal Information collected by us and may be used for the following reasons:
7.7.1 to establish and verify your identity in terms of the applicable laws;
7.7.2 to enable the company to fulfil our obligations in terms of these terms & conditions;
7.7.3 to enable us to take the necessary measures to prevent any suspicious or fraudulent activity in terms of the applicable laws; and
7.7.4 reporting to the relevant regulatory authority/body, in terms of the applicable laws.
7.8 Your personal information may be collected by Putco (Pty) Ltd and may be shared for further processing with the following third parties, which third parties have an obligation to keep your personal information secure and confidential:
7.8.1 To comply with statutory and regulatory requirements in respect of the storage and maintenance of documents and information;
7.8.2 To comply with valid requests for information, including subject access requests and requests in terms of the promotion of access to information act 2 of 2000;
7.8.3 To comply with information requests by regulators or bodies lawfully requesting the information (i.e. tax authorities);
7.8.4 For assessing client complaints;
7.8.5 For internal purposes such as training and monitoring;
7.9 You agree to our terms of use and to receive information from us relating to our products and services. You will, likewise, share certain personal information and give consent to Putco (Pty) Ltd to process your information so we can improve our products/services to you. Our contact details can be found on our website https://putco.co.za/Pages/Public-Relations.asp