Why your Gautrain card expires

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Why your Gautrain card expires

Your Gautrain card will expire every five years, even if you are still using it.

“Like other smart cards, Gautrain cards are prone to wear and tear after a period of use and therefore have a validity end date,” a Gautrain spokesperson told MyBroadband.
 
Wear and tear is an issue with contact cards, not NFC/RF tap and go cards...
 
Like other smart cards, Gautrain cards are prone to wear and tear after a period of use and therefore have a validity end date
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Lol no, It's because most smart cards have a cryptographic certificate that have an expiration date. These certificates need to be renewed after 5 years or so otherwise the terminal will not accept the card.
 
Pointless - you should only need to replace the card when/if it becomes necessary due to failure.
 
VG008 said:
Lol no, It's because most smart cards have a cryptographic certificate that have an expiration date. These certificates need to be renewed after 5 years or so otherwise the terminal will not accept the card.
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Is that card an EMV compliant banking grade payment card? As far as I was informed, no it isn't.
I am aware of the certs on normal banking cards but this one, I was under the impression used a different standard
 
ArtyLoop said:
Is that card an EMV compliant banking grade payment card? As far as I was informed, no it isn't.
I am aware of the certs on normal banking cards but this one, I was under the impression used a different standard
Click to expand...

No idea if its EMV compliant, but most smart cards have some sort of crypto keys/certs on it (if its done right). Even our propriety smart card has keys and expiration dates; the company I work for
 
ArtyLoop said:
Wear and tear is an issue with contact cards, not NFC/RF tap and go cards...
Click to expand...

It's a spokesman that was told to say this even though the reason completely different, there are multiple factors:
1. Security/Encryption key, they need to use newer encryption keys to ensure there is no breach.. easiest way to do this is with cards that expire i.e. move people onto newer cards with new keys as time goes on.
2. Cards database is billed for per active or sometimes total number cards.. expiring cards mean that lost, unused cards fall off the system reducing cost as people just buy another card to replace it particularly when they, tourists and other single or low value users, no longer need it. Why pay for 10 million cards when your user base is only 1 million ?
3. Why did they mention CPA? and then lastly mention refunds.. i suspect the two are connected. Anyways.. just log on the website and request a refund. What annoys me with the refund request is that they do not allow u to just simply transfer it to a new card.. instead it is transfered to your bank account. Weird... as one would think they would transfer to an existing card as it keeps the 'money' within the system.. pushing back to the bank account incurs cost and makes the store value real money.
 
krycor said:
3. Why did they mention CPA? and then lastly mention refunds.. i suspect the two are connected. Anyways.. just log on the website and request a refund. What annoys me with the refund request is that they do not allow u to just simply transfer it to a new card.. instead it is transfered to your bank account. Weird... as one would think they would transfer to an existing card as it keeps the 'money' within the system.. pushing back to the bank account incurs cost and makes the store value real money.
Click to expand...

This irritated me too. And I also tried to request a refund from the ticket window while I was waiting on a station, they told me I could only do it online.

Granted, Gautrain did pay out my R75 but still, they could have just transferred it to my card.
 
krycor said:
It's a spokesman that was told to say this even though the reason completely different, there are multiple factors:
1. Security/Encryption key, they need to use newer encryption keys to ensure there is no breach.. easiest way to do this is with cards that expire i.e. move people onto newer cards with new keys as time goes on.
2. Cards database is billed for per active or sometimes total number cards.. expiring cards mean that lost, unused cards fall off the system reducing cost as people just buy another card to replace it particularly when they, tourists and other single or low value users, no longer need it. Why pay for 10 million cards when your user base is only 1 million ?
3. Why did they mention CPA? and then lastly mention refunds.. i suspect the two are connected. Anyways.. just log on the website and request a refund. What annoys me with the refund request is that they do not allow u to just simply transfer it to a new card.. instead it is transfered to your bank account. Weird... as one would think they would transfer to an existing card as it keeps the 'money' within the system.. pushing back to the bank account incurs cost and makes the store value real money.
Click to expand...

Well said.
 
What a load of nonsense. I use my card max 4 times a year and wear and tear is equal to using it on a daily basis? Mine expired and I was not even entitled to all of the credit on it. In Australia I have a similar card and guess what - it never expires.
Just another scheme to extort more money - thieving practice.
 
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ArtyLoop said:
Wear and tear is an issue with contact cards, not NFC/RF tap and go cards...
Click to expand...

My thoughts exactly, I have absolutely tons of rfid cards issued to clients and they are used in some of the most abusive environments you can imagine. The only time cards ever need replacing is when they are lost.
 
ArtyLoop said:
Wear and tear is an issue with contact cards, not NFC/RF tap and go cards...
Click to expand...
Exactly.. Had to replace my 1st Gautrain Gold card used it the morning worked fine, going home nope card error.. Physically card is perfectly fine and not expired but unreadable.. Had to buy a new swift card...
 
genetic said:
The MyCiti bus card in Cape Town expires too...
Click to expand...

Yeah, the MyCiti card is an Absa account card, you can use it for making purchases at e.g. Spar. Mover points (which you should always get as it's substantially cheaper) aren't spendable outside of tapping in/out.
 
krycor said:
It's a spokesman that was told to say this even though the reason completely different, there are multiple factors:
1. Security/Encryption key, they need to use newer encryption keys to ensure there is no breach.. easiest way to do this is with cards that expire i.e. move people onto newer cards with new keys as time goes on.
2. Cards database is billed for per active or sometimes total number cards.. expiring cards mean that lost, unused cards fall off the system reducing cost as people just buy another card to replace it particularly when they, tourists and other single or low value users, no longer need it. Why pay for 10 million cards when your user base is only 1 million ?
3. Why did they mention CPA? and then lastly mention refunds.. i suspect the two are connected. Anyways.. just log on the website and request a refund. What annoys me with the refund request is that they do not allow u to just simply transfer it to a new card.. instead it is transfered to your bank account. Weird... as one would think they would transfer to an existing card as it keeps the 'money' within the system.. pushing back to the bank account incurs cost and makes the store value real money.
Click to expand...

All I received from an online request was that I should have heeded the "card is about to expire" warnings, which I did not see once. The money still has not been refunded. A very cosy little scam...
 
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