Safaricom has partnered with 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 their platform, allowing cashless payments at more than 50 locations including malls and hospitals for the first time.
“We realized that parking is one of the services that still relies heavily on cash and there was a gap for us to offer our customers convenience, ease and simplicity to pay parking fees. Motorists can now enjoy the freedom from having to carry around cash, the hassle of looking for change and queuing simply to pay for parking,” said Sitoyo Lopokoiyoit, Chief Financial Services Officer, Safaricom.
The service can be accessed by dialling *486# which will then enable customers to make parking payments with M-PESA in just two steps. In the first step customers can view their bill before making the payment in the second step. The partnership will also enable customers 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. M-PESA offers customers the convenience of paying for parking from anywhere without the need to look for a payment booth or change. The move complements the prepaid KAPS A-card Tap in Tap out service, which has been in the market for some time and has been well received by our customers” said Bonnyventure Saronge, Chief Executive Officer, KAPS
The service is already available at more than 52 KAPS locations including in Nairobi, Kisumu, Eldoret, Mombasa, Nanyuki and Nakuru.
Customers using the Lipa Na M-PESA 1Tap card to pay for their parking will get their entire parking 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.
