Kenyans have finally gotten something they wanted since the moment the SGR became operational since they will now be able to enjoy the service of booking and paying for their tickets on Madaraka Express through their mobile phones.
Customers will have to dial the USSD code *639# and correctly follow a series of prompts that will allow them to buy the tickets to any of the terminals. Apart from buying tickets, the USSD code can also be used to cancel 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,” said Atanas Maina, Kenya Railways (KR) managing director.
It will allow people to make up to 5 bookings at the same time. In addition, according to the MD, the new platform will also allow people to get the tickets seven days in advance making it easy to plan trips earlier. The new platform comes at the perfect time. Customers have complained about middlemen who bought tickets at the original price of Sh700 and resold them exorbitantly some times fourfold.
“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. 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,” added Mr Maina.
This new platform will enable people to make payments through M-Pesa to secure their tickets. Once one has completed booking, they will receive an SMS that will contain a special reference number that shows one’s destination, date and time of travel as well as the number of passengers booked. On the day of traveling, the passengers will be required to print their tickets at the service booths at the different stations and provide their national ID cards for verification.
The organization also intends to launch an online booking portal to allow online payments in the coming weeks.
