COMMUNICATIONS Minister Ioane Naivalurua has come under fire from the Fiji Bus Operations Association for saying the Government inherited an aging e-ticketing network that was no longer supported by its manufacturers in 2023.
Mr Naivalurua acknowledged public frustration with long queues, limited top up outlets, and difficulties in card replacement, and promised to improve reliability and accessibility.
He said the upgrade included new technology, better top-up access, and measures to prevent system failures.
FBOA consultant Mick Beddoes said the comments were “unfortunate” and did not reflect the real progress made so far. He said the minister, “who has only been in the role a few days”, should first meet former deputy prime minister and trade minister Manoa Kamikamica, who chaired the eTicketing Steering Committee until his resignation last month. He said the committee, made up of Vodafone Fiji, the Land Transport Authority, the Consumer Council, Digital Fiji, the Ministry of Education, and the FBOA, had worked effectively to resolve issues before Mr Kamikamica’s departure.
Mr Beddoes said the minister’s comments also differed from those of Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka, who recently told Parliament the system was being improved rather than replaced.
“For the hundreds of thousands of workers and students who depend on buses daily, Fiji continues to deliver one of the most efficient and affordable public transport systems anywhere,” he said.
He said operators earned as little as 17 cents per kilometre on sealed roads yet have recorded almost 690 million successful e-ticketing trips since 2017, with fewer than two complaints a week. “Anyone calling that a failure is speaking with the wisdom of a fool.”
