The project of cashless payment for motorbikes did not last long. The transactions are amicable six months later. The electronic meters are unused. They are kept carefully or used for other purposes.
Launched on 1 June 2020, the project for cashless payment for motorbikes now seems to have come to a standstill. And passengers and drivers of motorbikes prefer to pay in cash.
“I prefer cash because I can go home every day with money. With cashless payment you have to wait until the next day,” says a motorbike driver I met at the Downtown bus station.
“Tape & Go’s cashless payment counters are actually Mara phones. The motorbike drivers use them for their communication,” reveals a motorbike driver from Nyamirambo.
“With the digital meter, the cost of motorbike transport is higher than when negotiating with the motorbike driver,” repeat most borrowers of this means of transport, appreciated for its efficiency in Kigali. “I tested it at the beginning. For a 500 Rwf Kanombe-Remera race, you pay with the electronic machine 800 or 1000 frws,” says a young girl who regularly takes a motorbike to arrive on time at her place of service.
In short, passengers and motorbike drivers negotiate as before with the electronic machine. The payment is made in the hands or sometimes by phone without cash.
The Rwanda Utilities Regulatory Authority (RURA) is letting this happen in the meantime because investors have not respected their commitment.
Insufficient and dysfunctional electronic machines
The company YEGO had originally committed itself to introducing the electronic meter in its pilot project of 600 meters in 2017. Many of them have disappeared. Meters with GPS had to be ordered. Later two other companies saw this business as a “gold mine” that was operated almost in the open air. They committed themselves. Tape & Go and Pascal Technology
When the project is launched in Kigali, each investor commits to distribute a certain number of electronic meters. YEGO 5000, Tape & Go 15,000 and Pascal Technology 18,000. In all, 38,000 meters out of the 26,000 needed – an estimate – to cover the whole City of Kigali. However, certain commitments will not be met. RURA has decided to delay.
“We noticed after the launch of the project that the meters were not enough for the capital, the first stage of the project. We made the decision to wait until all the registered motorbikes had been serviced,” says Tony Kulamba of RURA.
For YEGO, Aline Uwamahoro, in charge of the Management Strategy and Partnership, acknowledges that they distributed 4700 machines out of 5000. The rest are kept in stock to replace those that could disappear despite their precaution to equip them with GPS.
Pascal Technology distributed 10,000 out of 18,000 meters. This company is not ready to continue the distribution of these electronic meters.
“We don’t have any earnings. If you were in our place, could you sink deeper into the deficit?” asks this source involved in the management. “The meters that have already been distributed are not being used,” It adds, “And we shouldn’t just look at the meters. There is the internet, the operation, the software, who is going to pay for all that? Is there income to cover all these expenses? There isn’t! To continue to invest, we need to be discerning.,” says our internal source in this company.
On the Tape & Go side, they are nervous about our maintenance request. Malik Shaffi Lizinde, ends up promising me an interview after an hour. Since then, all attempts to contact him have been unsuccessful.
This last investor has distributed mobile phones sold by Mara phone to motorbike drivers. The “bikers” use these “Smartphones” in their WhatsApp communications, on some of their routes they lack network and sometimes change their Sim card, at their wish.
YEGO would be willing to order more meters in China if the relevant authority grants them the contract, even if the first batch of machines has not yet started to yield.
All meters and phones have been distributed on credit. At each race, 10.5% of the money won by the motorbike driver was to go to the investor. The meters had to be renewed once every two years. The three investors do not yet know how to get out of the deficit because the meters are not used.
RURA promises that as soon as there are sufficient meters in the country, the implementation of the currently stalled project will continue.
The meter-telephone would be partly responsible for this stalemate. On the other hand, transport tariffs are set by RURA. For the first two kilometers, the cost remained at 300 Rwf. Nevertheless, for the motorbike driver, the price was reduced because a certain percentage is withheld at source each time the meter is running. For the passenger, beyond the first two kilometers, the amount to be paid is significantly higher. Both prefer to put the meter aside to negotiate. This way, everyone can get something out of it.
Gérard Rugambwa
