The government of Rwanda through the Ministry of Infrastructure has directed all commercial transport motorcyclists (Moto Taxis) and Boda Bodas across the country to have adopted cashless payment systems by July 1, 2019.
The deadline, which was announced recently, comes after a cabinet meeting on Wednesday approved the national motorcycle transport strategy.
Jean de Dieu Uwihanganye, the State Minister in charge of transport, said that the strategy will eliminate haggling between motorcyclists and passengers over transport fares.
Uwihanganye revealed the directive while meeting with representative of associations of moto taxi riders.
He informed them that government has decided the sector has to be upgraded to use technology.
The moto taxis have been given until July 1, 2019, to join tech payment platforms. Each will be given a gadget to be installed on the motorcycle that calculates distance travelled and displays the price for the client.
Currently, there are two payment App services Yego Moto and Safe Moto owned by two different private companies. Joining these service Apps has been optional, reason why the companies had only a handful of members.
Explaining the rationale for the obliging all motorcycles to join payment Apps, Uwihanganye said that the technology will eliminate unnecessary wrangling between clients and motos.
Available data suggests that there are about 250 taxi motorcycle associations in the country that have thousands of individual members.
The industry is said to be generating more than Rwf 800 billion annually.
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