SUMMARY REPORT ON INVESTIGATIONS IN THE ANALYSIS Formatted: Font: 14 pt

DEPARTMENT ON CONUCTORS’ TAP-SALES SHORTAGES AT Formatted: Top: (Single solid line, Auto, 1 pt Line
width), Bottom: (Single solid line, Auto, 1 pt Line width),
ZUPCO BELVEDERE Left: (Single solid line, Auto, 1 pt Line width), Right:
(Single solid line, Auto, 1 pt Line width)
OCTOBER 31, 2019
ISSUES IDENTIFIED:
1. Buses operating on peri-urban and rural routes normally start to
operate from around 12:00pm to around 11:00 am the following
day. The issue of batch cut-off on the transaction data from tap-
cards sales arises.
2. ZUPCO Analysis department facing challenges pertaining to the
reconciliation of tap-cars sales data for those conductors who
sleep overnight and cash-in the following day as the Jasper Soft
reporting platform only reports up to 12:00 midnight for that
specific date.
3. ZUPCO Analysis department indicated that sometime they fail to
locate transaction data for a specific Tap-Machine number which
will have been indicated on the reporting waybill. However, on
investigation we found out that the problem is starting in the
ZUPCO Ticketing Office at the Belvedere depot.
4. The ZUPCO Ticketing Office is operating in shambles, raising
doubts on the competencies of the personnel operating in that
office. We noted that the Tap-Machine ID is not properly written on
the waybill, for example on the 2930th of October 2019 they Formatted: Font: 14 pt

dispatched Tap-Machine ID TP000026 but recorded it as

TP000076 on the waybill and on their dispatch records. When we
checked with the Analysis Department, they said they rely on the
Tap-Machine ID written on the waybill to conduct variance analysis
on the revenue generated by the conductor. If there is a negative
variance, the conductor has to pay the difference.
5. The ZUPCO Analysis department for example, on the 30th of
October 2019 could not find transaction data for tap-machine ID
TP00076 recorded on the waybill, but on the waybill the conductor
indicated that his/her revenue for tap-cards was $410. Since Formatted: Font: 14 pt

his/her transaction data was not reflected on the Jasper Soft

platform, they will penalise him/her as a shortage. But the
conductor on this particular case was innocent. The same Tap-
Machine ID TP00026 was issued on the 30th of October 2019 to
conductor work ID 6184 operating on Epworth route but on
 checking the records of the Ticketing Office as the issuing
authority they have recorded the tap-machine ID not as TP00076.
What it means is that when the conductor cashes, the Analysis
department will not see his transaction data as they will be looking
for machine ID TP00076 written on the waybill and will record a
shortage to be paid by the conductor.
6. The supervisor of the Analysis department indicated that the
department has a shortage of desktop computers and this slows
their work considerably as they have to share the two computers in
the office. There is also need to add more staff to help improve the
efficiency of the department.
4.

RECOMMENDATIONS:

1. The Ticketing Office staff need further training in data capture and
proper record keeping management skills.
2. Conductors need to properly check and verify that machine ID
written on the waybill is exactly the same machine ID reflected on
the tap-machine by switching on the machine and confirming the
machine ID on the home page of the machine. They should then
confirm by signing on the waybill on the tap-machine ID issued.
3. Returning the old format of the NMB Tap-Card Merchant portal
which gives detailed transaction data which can then be
downloaded in excel, pdf and other formats.
4. Installing more desktop computers in the Analysis Department to
help ease the workload there and improve on efficiencies there.
Recruiting more competent personnel for the department for faster
turnaround of findings.
5. IT department needs to improve internet access as network
availability is always a challenge.