Commuters can now buy their Rea Vaya tickets at more than 30 vendors across the city, as well as at the 34 stations.

THERE are now 35 ticket vendors across the city where Rea Vaya commuters can buy their tickets.

Take Aways and Spaza Shops are commonly used as vendors

The majority are located along the feeder and complementary routes located in Soweto as there are no station buildings in these areas. Commuters can also buy tickets from the 34 station buildings located around the city. Approximately 20 000 tickets are sold daily at the various vendors and stations.

Spaza shop owners make up the majority of the vendors, like Zanele Mdumela, whose Taylor's Fast Foods is a favourite stop for locals looking for "amagwinya" or vetkoek. Mdumela sells about 200 Rea Vaya tickets a day, making 60 cents from each ticket. Most of her Rea Vaya clientele work in Ellis Park and their biggest need at the moment is to know when the next bus will be coming, she confirms.

"We only sell tickets to accredited vendors who then have an area of exclusive use. We also don't allow liquor stores to sell tickets as we don't want to portray the wrong image," confirms TMT's vendor operations manager, Bambhatha Hlubi.

The Rea Vaya ticketing system is managed by Traffic Management Technologies South Africa, known as TMT. It would also be responsible for the installation and management of the advanced passenger transport system, an electronic monitoring system planned for early in the new year, he adds.

With the electronic system in place, passengers will know exactly when the next bus is coming or how long they still have to wait.

According to Hlubi, the company is looking into installing electronic information boards at preferred vendors once everything is operational. The plan is also to have recording equipment on board all the buses.

Click here for a list of vendors and their locations.

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