In line with its strong agenda of growing revenue by riding on digital platforms, Safaricom has partnered with the Kenya Airports Parking Services (Kaps) to enable motorists across the country pay for their parking by M-Pesa. The partnership will see the service provider integrate M-Pesa to its platform. A first in the market, it will also allow cashless payments at more than fifty locations including malls and hospitals.
According to Mr. Sitoyo Lopokoiyoit, Safaricom’s chief financial services officer, motorists now do not have to carry cash and queue for long while looking for parking, thanks to the new service. It will also enable them to use their M-Pesa 1Tap cards in place of the Kaps card to access and exit parking lots.
“Kaps has been on a journey to drive cashless parking payments and we are glad to partner with Safaricom in this initiative,” said Mr. Bonnyventure Saronge during the launch of the innovative service adding that M-Pesa offers customers the convenience of paying for parking from anywhere without the need to look for a payment booth or change.
The service is already available at more than 52 Kaps’ locations including: Nairobi, Kisumu, Eldoret, Mombasa, Nanyuki and Nakuru. In a bid to drive a fast uptake of the service, customers using the Lipa Na M-Pesa 1Tap card to pay for their parking will get their entire fee back for the first three transactions they make.
Cashless payments will also benefit parking service providers by reducing the point of failure associated with cash machines, and the need to collect and transport cash from parking points. According to data from the Central Bank of Kenya, the mobile phone is the most popular mode of cashless payments in the country, accounting for more than eight out of every ten cashless transactions in October 2018.
