Cashless fare payment faces uncertain start

The National Transport and Safety Authority is yet to integrate the various electronic fare payment systems with barely two weeks to the planned government ban on cash transactions in public transport.

Beginning July 1, public service vehicles are required to collect fare using cashless transaction as part of the government’s bid to streamline the chaotic industry.

Safety authority chairman Lee Kinyanjui said in April that they were considering integrating the cashless means from different service providers.

He said the authority had formed a committee comprising service providers and transporters to craft a method that encompasses all systems.

It was not immediately possible to get a comment from Mr Kinyanjui as he said he was held up in meetings.

Several institutions, including banks and payment processing firms, have unveiled debit cards to be used by commuters instead of paying using cash.

MANDATORY SWITCH

The authority is, however, yet to release guidelines on how the different services will be integrated with 12 days to go for the mandatory shift to cashless payment.

Kenya Commercial Bank and Modern Coast bus limited on Wednesday announced they would provide a debit card targeting over 40,000 travellers that use the buses monthly.

“We want to facilitate this transition with the cards to over 40,000 passengers of the company,” said Kenya Commercial Bank chief finance officer Collins Otiwu.

This comes barely two weeks after the bank teamed up with Kenya Bus Service for a similar arrangement.