Fuel stations in Daqahliya started on Saturday experimenting with the new smart card system, which will be officially effective starting mid-June.
Workers at the stations checked the smart cards with consumers to record the quantities they obtain through specific machines.
At the entrance of Misr Petroleum fuel station on Geish Street in Mansoura city, a big banner informs consumers about receiving their smart cards for free at the traffic departments. It adds phone numbers for complaints and inquiries. Workers at the station were hanging the card terminals, distributed by the company in charge of the new system E Finance, around their necks
Car owners who did not get their cards yet were confused, however, the workers ensured them that it was only an experimental phase.
Ahmed Abdel Hamid, the station owner, said the company in charge of issuing the smart cards and distributing the card terminals decided to try the new system before being enforced officially in order to handle any problems that could occur.
However, he complained about congestion as the process of dealing through the card take around three-five minutes before starting to fuel the vehicle. He explained that process starts with getting the card then putting it into the machine. After the card is accepted, the driver has to enter the password. ‘We suffer a lot with people who forget their passwords, which force us to carry out the process more than once.”
He also indicated the frequent internet outage, which stops the whole station. “We do not know how would we face such problem when the system is adopted,” he wondered.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
