The planned cashless payment system for privately run public service vehicles (PSVs) has run into a roadblock owing to concerns over the cost of hardware, the operators’ representatives have revealed.Roy Raphael, chairman of the Alliance Owners of Public Transport (AOPT), said the programme was unable to proceed as planned due to cost constraints discouraging several owners from participating.“We are on halt as it relates to moving in the direction that we want to move, because, right now, the cost of the readers that read the cards is very expensive, and some persons are not interested in going that route because of the costs,” Raphael told Barbados TODAY.“The cost could go up between $1 000 and $2 000 per unit, and that is one of the areas where we have the setback now. We would have been in discussion with the Ministry of Transport and Works, the deputy prime minister, if they could amend the law to allow us to use the hand-held…such as the cellphones because we would use things like QR codes to make it easier for persons. But we have not heard from them and that is the whole setback.”The AOPT head said a pilot of the system using ten vehicles must first be undertaken, but that some operators are not comfortable about going on the route with a mobile phone as an alternative device to the more expensive reader, without the approval of authorities, for fear of being reported by police.The owners are therefore weighing their options in the meantime.“It (cashless system) is on hold because of the fact that we could try to get these minor issues ironed out,” Raphael stressed. “But once that is ironed out, we should be ready to go because all systems are in place. It is just that these minor issues that really confronted us as to how we need to move forward. But the majority of our members are very much interested in going the route of the cashless system because of the amount of cash being placed on public service vehicles, it is really a major headache for us and it also puts persons at risk.”