Tech in Africa
The National Transport and Safety Authority will introduce a cashless payment system for the public transport sector. They even tendered bids for tech companies to install nationwide mobile software for matatus.
Once approved, the digital fare collection system will require passengers to make phone payments. This helps in contact tracing during the pandemic. Paying fares via mobile money platforms gives the government access to identity and passenger contact information which is key during contact tracing.
NTSA gave a notice calling tech firms to submit their bids by June 16. In comments shared with the Business Daily, George Njao, NTSA Director-General described the impact of the cashless system and the impact in helping the government during the pandemic.
In a recent notice, NTSA said the licensed 29 companies will provide a platform for cashless fare payment, telecom giant Safaricom being one of them. Once the system goes live all passengers will make their payments through mobile payments. Other firms authorized to offer the cashless fare system are KCB Bank Kenya, Cellullant, NCBA, JamboPay, and Craft Silicon.
