Senior citizens were yesterday left fuming over the long lines and lengthy delays they were forced to endure in collecting their Smarter Cards for the implementation of the Jamaica Urban Transit Company’s (JUTC’s) electronic fare collection or cashless system.

Anger boiled as senior citizens converged on the JUTC’s offices at East Parade in downtown Kingston from as early as 8:00 am to make last-minute purchases of Smarter Cards for concession fare passengers.

But after waiting in long lines for hours without getting the cards, the crowd became restless.

“Boss man, ah from last week Saturday mi pay my money and dem tell mi to come back for it, and every time mi visit the location all mi can hear is that the card no ready yet,” said 79-year-old Samuel Facey.

“Can you imagine is from 9:00 am mi come here and now is almost 4:00 pm and all now mi caan get no good argument about my card. And then when mi ask question the customer service is very poor inside there,” said Althea Robinson.

Naomi McPherson, another commuter who joined the throng people running up to the door of the JUTC office every time it was opened, shared a similar story.

“This service has left much to be desired. First dem ask yuh to pay, and when the time come for you to pick up the card you are given different reasons as to why it is not ready. I don’t think this is fair to the customers who have to face another fare increase,” said Campbell, who also claimed to have paid for her card from last Saturday and was yet to receive it.

The commuters also raised concern that, with today’s deadline for concession passengers to have the card, they should have even been given a receipt that they could present on the bus until the cards are ready.

“At least we could have been given a receipt so that we could bring on the bus tomorrow to say we paid for our cards, but it was not ready,” said another senior citizen.

Yesterday, JUTC officials reported that they were working around the clock to address the problems in response to the last-minute attempts to purchase the cards across the Kingston Metropolitan Region.

They also reported that centres such as the one in Half-Way-Tree where the cards could be purchased were being operated under a 24-hour service to accommodate commuters.

JUTC also reported that, for today only, it will be offering an amnesty for students across the Kingston Metropolitan Region to ride free for the day.

Managing Director of the JUTC, Colin Campbell, last week told the Jamaica Observer that students in uniform who were not able to purchase Smarter cards would be allowed  to travel on the JUTC buses free of cost.

“What that amnesty will entail, if you are a student going to school and you did not get that Smarter Card, we will allow you to travel for free on the JUTC bus on Monday, September 1. However, it will be under the condition that you use that free ride to go to one of our centres so that by Tuesday, September 2 you will have that Smarter Card in hand,” said Campbell.

The centres where commuters could collect their Smarter Cards are Half-Way-Tree Transport Centre, the JUTC office at East Parade in downtown Kingston, and the Spanish Town lay-by in St Catherine.