Passengers travelling on the Standard Gauge Rail (SGR) train
between Nairobi to Mombasa will from Saturday book, cancel and pay for
their tickets through their mobile phones following introduction of a
SMS-based payment platform.
Kenya Railways is hoping
the move will tackle middlemen cashing in on selling tickets at higher
prices by allowing passengers to purchase them directly.
Commuters
can now dial the code *639# and follow a series of prompts that will
enable them buy tickets to the Mombasa, Nairobi, Voi and Mtito Andei
passenger destinations.
“We are seeking to leverage the
technology offered by the new platform to counter the secondary market
of tickets by middlemen who have taken advantage of the use of the
stations as the main source of tickets,” said Kenya Railways (KR)
Managing Director Atanas Maina yesterday.
The SMS-based USSD code will also enable passengers to immediately make payments via MPESA to secure their tickets.
“Through
the platform, we hope to make it more convenient for Kenyans seeking to
travel to plan their journey in advance and make bookings on time. The
system will also require those making bookings to provide their names
and national identity card number except for minors.”
ALSO READ: Late SGR passengers now to get 80pc refund
Multiple bookings
The new platform will allow passengers to make up to five bookings at a go and secure tickets up to seven days in advance.
Once
the booking is done, they will receive a confirmation SMS with a
special reference number indicating their destination, time and date of
travel as well as the number of passengers reflected on the booking.
Commuters
will then be required to print their tickets from the service booths at
the station upon arrival and produce their National ID cards while
checking in to verify their identity.
Mr Maina said
development of an online booking portal to allow online payments is at
trial stage and will be launched in the coming weeks.
He also said that Kenya Railways has reached a deal with Safaricom
for nine M-Pesa pay bill numbers to allow travellers buy tickets from their mobile phones.
Middlemen
have been a thorn in the side of the rail services provider since the
launch of SGR trains as they buy out tickets at normal price of Sh700
and re-sell at sh3,000, thereby creating artificial shortages and
inconveniencing commuters.
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