Tech disrupt Teddy Ngeene

In this episode we'll be having an intro into what safaricom my 1963 card, who were the stakeholders involved and the impact it meant to have.

Similar technologies

Beba Pay, Abiria Card, Pepea, Tangaza Pesa M-Nauli among others.

These were technologies developed by non-government sponsored firms, such as Google and master card. They were foreign technologies meant to be implemented in the Kenyan market, however, they did not quite pick and were later abandoned.

The proposed systems were also meant to solve the same problems Safaricom my 1963 was developed to solve.

Additional feature

The card also had an additional feature, Kopa. It allowed customers to pay for their fares on credit, maximum credit being Ksh 300. It had a deadline, after which one would be blacklisted.

One of the cons of this feature was that it would promote the borrowing culture of Kenyans

How to use

Acquisition

The card was meant to be available at Safaricom shops and select bus stations within Nairobi. To get the card, you had to pay a fee of Ksh 50, have a valid Safaricom number.

For registration, present your national ID card and date of birth, your account is then created.

Top up

Open your Mpesa account from your phone, navigate to buy goods and services and select Paybill, enter bill number 118134 and your card number as the account number.

Alternatively, there were card agents where you could go and top up your account. They were located along various routes, in the CBD in Nairobi for example 1963 Jinice Shop along Mfangano Street.

The technology ran on

The card used NFC technology; commuters would tap their cards against a terminal installed in PSVs to pay their fare.

Problems the card aimed to solve.

The current system that was in place was using cash. Exchanged between the commuter and conductor.

I. Unnecessary hiking of fares especially during rainy seasons.

II. Corruption, matatu crew could not bribe police officers since they will not carry cash

III. Security of both commuters and crew, since they can be easily identified from their transactions. To the commuters, it would reduce the incidences of pickpocketing since they would be carrying less cash. It was also meant to greatly reduce incidences of hijacking matatus since the passengers and the drivers do not have cash at hand.

IV. Exact fare deductions hence conductors cannot refuse to give change to a commuter. Fare is pre-determined before payment.

V. Bring about professionalism in the public transport industry. Matatu touts cannot hike prices when they feel like as they are already pre-determined