The card-based fare payment system is set to be rolled countrywide to seal revenue leaks and make it more convenient to pay for public transport.

In Kigali, where e-ticketing has been in use since 2015, fleet owners’ revenues have increased by 35 per cent after the technology was rolled out. In the past, fleet owners have found it difficult to meet revenue targets due to a combination of high operating expenses and revenue leakages.

“The buses are now generating 85 per cent revenue on each route, daily,” said Sharon Umunyana, director of sales and marketing at AC Group, a technology company, which developed the Tap & Go card payment system.

Advanced features

The tech firm says that by December, at least 1.6 million new cards with advanced features will be issued, the bulk of them going to upcountry travellers in the different provinces.

The cards will have a new feature that allows passengers to top up using mobile money accounts.

Currently, AC Group is mapping the routes, which could see the entire country using a card-based fare payment system.

“The plan is to have three million cards by December, from the current 1.3 million in Kigali,” said Ms Umunyana, adding that the full rollout of e-ticketing makes the country stand out among other East African Community states.

“For e-ticketing to work effectively, policies and frameworks need to be put in place to support it. In Rwanda, authorities organised the transport sector even before e-ticketing,” said Ms Umunyana.

The country only has three operators: Rwanda Transport Cooperative Federation, Kigali Bus Services and Royal Express.

Route fares are also fixed and they can only be revised after consultations with the government, making public transport convenient for most people.

The revenue leaks have been plugged because through the smartcard system, the fares do not go to operators.

The payments are banked in an escrow account that is monitored by both AC Group and the operators before it is distributed according to the number of passengers.

AC Group, the system vendor, earns five per cent commission from the gross revenue collection per bus.

The firm has exported the technology to Cameroon.

“After launching in Rwanda, AC Group rolled the e-ticketing system in Cameroon. The system started and is working very well with almost 100,000 commuter subscriptions,” said Ms Umunyana.