As Easy As Tapping!

I was out on one of my regular trips to one of the tech hubs here in Nairobi about some two weeks ago. So as usual I wait for the bus at the bus stop right. When the right one came, I boarded it and got me a good cozy seat. A good cozy seat for me usually entails where I can get fresh air and be able to look out to ensure I don’t miss my stop.

My BebaPay Card :)

A couple of minutes into my journey, the conductor came over to me to collect my fare. But after looking through my purse for some coins to no avail, I just decided to hand him a clean, crisp, solid note. Those who know me know that I never like using my crisp notes or coins. I mean, they are so new and fresh and shiny! I think they should be framed or something. Anyway, back to the story. So because I had no choice, I just had to use it. From the looks of things, the conductor didn’t have loose change for my money so he gave me that look which implied he would get to me after he finished collecting money from all the other passengers. *I'll be back…like Arnold Schwarzenegger LOL*

As fate would have it, I forgot to ask him for my balance and I alighted from the bus when I got to my destination. How convenient for him right?? This did not hit me until a couple of minutes later when I was going through my bag. Oh my, I felt so bad! To lose such an amount of money with this economy was just nerve racking. And you know just what I mean if you have been in such a situation. And it is at that point that I decided I was getting me a BebaPay card!

Ok, I know most of you have heard of the BebaPay card. But if you haven’t then yeey, I broke you hehe!

BebaPay is a cutting edge technology payment system that has been developed by Google in partnership with Equity Bank. It was launched sometime last year and this payment card makes it easier and more convenient to pay for bus travel in Kenya. With BebaPay, you do not have to worry about tickets, receipts or change (you see where I’m going with this!)

How does it work though?

The BebaPay uses smart cards powered by NFC technology (Near Field Communication) it also uses other technologies from Google. NFC technology means that payment can take place offline even when there is no power or network connectivity.

In the scenario of bus transport, the conductor has to have an NFC-enabled android phone as well and have the BebaPay application installed in his phone. What this does is turn the phone into a card reader! How cool is that!

So in order to pay your transport, all you have to do is tap your card, which you have already pre-loaded with some money, onto the card to the conductor’s phone and just like that you are instantly debited for the fare. It’s as easy as tapping! And you will receive a receipt via SMS.

Tap to make a payment

We had a session about this as Kenyan GSAs in one of the Google offices sometime back and at that time I didn’t have the card. I had never even used it. But I guess experience does teacheth people #sigh

All you need to get your BebaPay card is just a valid Gmail account! Visit one of the Equity banks near you and they will set you up with one. And you are good to go. Anywhoo…let me not go on and on about this though I could hehe. But if you want to know more you can visit their site here or read this piece too. Any questions are welcome because I might actually have an answer :)

 

Google + Equity Bank  = BebaPay

Thanks again for taking your time to read this people. Do have yourselves a lovely Sunday afternoon.

Peace, Love and Light!

#happydays