Madaraka express. [Photo/PSCU]Travelers using the Standard Gage Rail (SGR) between Nairobi to Mombasa will very soon book, pay and even cancel their tickets through their cell phones following the introduction of a SMS-based mode of payment. Kenya Railways believes the move will help handle mediators capitalizing on offering tickets at higher costs.Travelers would now be able to dial the code *639# and follow a progression of prompts that will enable them purchase tickets to the Mombasa, Nairobi, Voi and Mtito Andei . The SMS-based code will likewise help travelers to instantly make payments by means of MPESA to secure their ticket"We are trying to use the innovation offered by the new platform to counter the auxiliary market of tickets by agents who have exploited the utilization of the stations as the fundamental source of tickets," said Kenya Railways (KR) Managing Director Atanas Maina."Through the platform, we would like to make it more advantageous for Kenyans looking to travel to plan their journey ahead of time and make bookings on time. The platform will likewise require those making bookings to give their names and national id number with the exception of minors."
Once the booking is done, they will get an affirmation SMS with an exceptional reference number indicating their destination, time and date of travel.Commuters will then be required to print their tickets from the service booth at the station upon arrival and deliver their National ID cards for verification. Mr Maina said development of a web-based booking platform to permit online payment is at trial stage and will be launched in the coming weeks. He further said that Kenya Railways has struck a deal with Safaricom #ticker:SCOM for nine M-Pesa pay charge numbers to permit travelers purchase tickets from their cell phones. Middlemen have been a challenge to Kenya railways since the launch of SGR where they purchase out tickets at ordinary cost of Sh700 and re-offer at sh3,000.