A bus conductor collects fares using the card system in Nairobi. The transport authority says passengers will not be charged for crossing from one provider to another. Photo/FILE
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The National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) said the firms that have signed up to offer the service will absorb the inter-connectivity charges.
The assurance allays fears that commuters would have to meet the cost of crossing from one network to another.
The cashless system would see consumers switch from cash payment of fares to swiping cards on special gadgets – a system that a few bus companies in Nairobi said had improved collections.
Cashless fares service providers will meet the full cost of transactions and cushion passengers from any extra charges when the transport industry switches to the new system, the regulator has said.
The National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) said the firms that have signed up to offer the service will absorb the inter-connectivity charges.
“Commuters will not incur any extra charge when they use their cards on different networks that do not match with their cards as the firms offering these services will absorb the cost of connectivity,” said the director general of NTSA, Francis Meja.
The assurance allays fears that commuters would have to meet the cost of crossing from one network to another.
A number of firms, including Safaricom (Lipa na M-Pesa), Google in partnership with Equity (Beba pay), a Hong Kong firm TapTo pay that has partnered with the Kenya Bus Service (Abiria Card), have introduced cashless payment plans in the face of a looming government ban on cash transactions on public transport.
The ban was expected to take effect on July 1, but the transport authority said the roll-out would be gradual.
Consumer lobbies like the Consumers Federation of Kenya (Cofek) had faulted the deadline, saying it was unfair to users who had not been educated on the switch.
The cashless system would see consumers switch from cash payment of fares to swiping cards on special gadgets – a system that a few bus companies in Nairobi said had improved collections.
A lobby group and commuters had expressed concerns that travellers would be forced to incur extra charges when they change from one operator to another.
Cofek had threatened to move to court to stop the process if it was started on July 1.
Mr Meja said passengers would have an opportunity to use their Visa-branded ATM cards without necessarily having to acquire specialised cards.
So far, Central Bank of Kenya has approved four banking institutions to conduct the services. They are KCB, Equity Bank, Co-op Bank and Barclays Bank.
“We have over a million cards right now in the market and these are the Visa-branded ATM cards that passengers possess,” Mr Meja said.
A gazette notice early this year was meant to ban the use of cash on public service vehicles by July 1 but this has been delayed for an unspecified time, allowing the use of cash alongside the cashless system.
The introduction of cashless payment is part of a wider strategy by the government to streamline the industry.
The system, among other things, is meant to curb erratic increases of fares based on weather patterns, traffic flow and other considerations and enable the Kenya Revenue Authority KRA to collect taxes from the industry.
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